Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 41

2016-03-27T22:45:22Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 41: Oppressor from Above */ typo

==Chapter 41: Oppressor from Above==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0235.jpg|thumb]]
''What ends up like that

''Before you know it?

'''Point Allocation (When You Look Up)

It was a place of shadows.

The entire perimeter was covered in a window, but the glass blocked out the light. A ship’s deck extended far beyond that window and the room itself had decorative columns and walls.

That was the large observation deck on the rear of the Jurakudai, a P.A. Oda diplomatic ship.

The fifty meter diameter space was soaked in darkness, but the center contained a light that cast no shadows.

It was bluish-white ether light.

It remained in the center of the cylindrical space without illuminating its surroundings.

The blue light was contained within and leaking from two beds. Their harp-like forms were decorated with moons and the wind. One was empty, but a ghost girl stood next to the other and inside it…

“Hidetsugu-sama…”

The boy with a single dragon horn lay on the bed with his eyes closed. His feet faded away to show he was a ghost and his illusory body was soaking in the blue ether light leaking from the bottom end of the bed.

That ether light enveloped him and pulsated.

The ghost girl watching him was of course Komahime.

She peered down at him and spoke.

“Do you think I’ve made my mother hate me? She started firing on Date and Sviet Rus as Mogami instead of a subordinate to Hashiba.”

She tilted her head and smiled as she asked the sleeping boy her questions.

“What do you think that final shot meant…?”

However, her question fell apart as she asked it. The ends of her eyebrows drooped weakly.

“I know you’re not going to answer. This was forced from the beginning. You didn’t have many regrets.”

She forced a smile and raised her falling head. Then her hand reached the bed on which Hidetsugu slept.

The light supported her. It passed along the hand on the edge of the bed, circled around her entire body, and…

“Ah.”

Her form wavered. Her ears moved to the side, her fox appearance grew stronger, and two tails pushed out from the butt of the inner suit made of a special material for ghosts. The shape of her hands and the slant of her mouth gently rose.

“————”

She trembled and stepped back from the bed. However, her left hand shook and did not come with her. She quickly swung her shoulder and grabbed her left arm with her right hand to pull the hand away. And finally…

“…I’m back to normal.”

The ears remained, but as far as she could see in the mirror she held, the slant of her mouth and cheeks had vanished. “It would look fine if I had my mother’s face,” she muttered while fixing the butt of her suit.

“Are you okay? There was a zap just now, so you probably shouldn’t touch that too much.”

Someone stepped in from the stairway up to the observation deck.

It was a woman in a simple P.A. Oda uniform with her hair worn up.

“Niwa-sama…”

Komahime noticed a slightly harsh tone to her voice, so she bowed.

“Sorry. You are looking after me, but I can’t seem to manage myself properly.”

“Shaja. It’s fine, it’s fine. No one can manage themselves properly, so don’t worry about it. And even if you could manage yourself, something weird would happen to throw it all out of whack. …More importantly, how about we head down to the bridge for another round of piloting practice to get your mind off all this? The captain praised you, saying another two rounds and you would have the skill needed for a temporary license.”

“Thank you very much. It was only in charge of supplies, but I was given a fleet back in Mogami. …And I’m jealous of how quickly you can change your attitude, Niwa-sama.”

Niwa was acting quite differently from when she had been speaking so harshly toward Musashi and the Oushuu forces. There was a smile on her face and there was real life to it. It was not just for show.

She could readily switch between combat and normal times.

…''Date’s Katakura also switched back and forth pretty spectacularly…

Komahime had a feeling that one had more to do with being crazy, but if he could do ''that'' sort of thing during battle, maybe he was just ''that'' sort of person. And there was something severely wrong when demonstratives were the only words one could use to describe him.

But Niwa took a breath and looked to Hidetsugu’s bed and the form sleeping on it.

“I do feel bad about all this. …He still exists as a ghost, but his consciousness isn’t entirely there. For our purposes, he’s become something like a doll.”

“Why don’t you call that convenient?”

Komahime felt she was going too far and being too harsh, but she asked anyway.

“P.A. Oda is a wonderful place,” replied Niwa. “If he was only conscious, I am confident I could get him to side with us. I am #2 of the Five Great Peaks after all.”

“Sorry for being so conceited.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Niwa smiled. “It’s true he’ll do whatever we tell him to, but we can only tell him to walk or to stop. Personally, I’d prefer it if he was conscious. That would make us a lot more convincing. But…”

“But?”

“Being a girl is tough at times like this.”

Niwa crossed her arms and lowered her shoulders while speaking like she could see everything about Komahime.

“Normally, I think a girl on your level would be letting go of everything from the past to prepare yourself for the search for the next person.”

“Oh.” A thought came to Komahime and she realized she was smiling bitterly. “When she thought it was about time for me to leave Mogami, my mother had me choose which of my old possessions I couldn’t take with me. That was really, really hard.”

“She probably wanted you to let go of your regrets and gain a freedom with no bonds tying you to your family. You were going to leave your inherited name eventually and that was one way of doing that. …Mogami’s leader is kind yet cruel.”

Niwa nodded toward Komahime with a smile.

“Foxes care for their families, but the parent and the child eventually part ways. …When the child is making their own family, the aged parent would only be a hindrance after all.”

“If either of us is a hindrance, it’s me…”

After saying that, Komahime realized something, quickly took a step back, and bowed.

“Sorry! I’m on this side now, aren’t I!?”

“We aren’t divided between enemy and ally right now, so it’s fine. Just make sure you stick with us when we are.”

Niwa shrugged, looked over to Hidetsugu’s bed, and sighed

“Hashiba seems to be feeling pretty down about this.”

“Hashiba-sama is?”

“Shaja. ….Hashiba is a very calculating-…no, that’s not quite right. Maybe I should say she’s almost too good at making choices. She actually thought that would minimize the sacrifices. It’s just that there are several different ways of minimizing sacrifices and she has a habit of choosing one of them.”

“You mean…?”

“Shaja.” Niwa faced Komahime again. “Instead of distributing the sacrifice out to as many people as possible, she tries to place it all on a single person who can handle it.”

Niwa lowered her eyebrows a little and brushed up her hair.

“She places that role on herself quite frequently. And given what is to come, the rest of us usually do whatever we can to keep her from simply working behind the scenes. But at times, she decides someone else is the same as her. …No, she decides that other person is different from her, but she assumes they’ll be fine taking on that much.”

“Um,” said Komahime as she took half a step forward. “I am fine.”

She glanced over at Hidetsugu on the bed, but Niwa shook her head.

“You are not fine. After all…”

Niwa looked up and Komahime followed suit. Something was visible behind and over Hidetsugu’s head.

Something like blue ripples was floating there like a mirror and something with no physical form was silently extending from it.

“A mechanical arm…”

It was a god of war arm. The blue draconic arm did not have a physical form as it occasionally appeared from the rippling surface.

As it had no physical form, it looked like a mere trick of the light, but its size and movements did not vanish altogether.

“That thing is trouble.”

Niwa avoided the wavering ether light that slowly formed the god of war arm. She tilted her head away from the rippling line of light.

“Day in and day out, it grows more solid. It’s sucking up more and more of the ether that bed is supposed to be supplying Hidetsugu, so the Jurakudai’s fuel manager is going ballistic.”

“Sorry…”

“Heh heh. Apologizing for her husband’s imperfections is a good habit for a wife.”

“No, um, that’s not what I, um…”

Komahime trailed off when she noticed the amused bend of Niwa’s eyes and the lack of strength in her eyebrows.

“Lady Komahime,” said the woman. “You left some regrets in this world. So did Hidetsugu. That is why you both retained so much of your form as ghosts. But for some reason, your regrets did not fit well together…”

Niwa stopped there, looked to the unmoving dragon horn boy, and simply nodded.

“You are not fine. …And Hashiba agrees with me.”

“Hashiba-sama does?”

“Shaja.” Niwa nodded again. “That is why she hasn’t returned here. She doesn’t know what to say to you. She’s feeling down because she thinks she should have placed more of the burden on herself. Yet if she keeps thinking like that, it’ll interfere with what’s to come.”

Four silhouettes parted ways in the sky.

The main fleets of Hashiba, Sviet Rus, Mogami, and Date were returning to their homes or the castles where their main academies were.

Date moved north, Mogami north-northwest, Sviet Rus west, and…

“P.A. Oda is going south to Edo.”

Masazumi looked in all four directions and then into the sky directly overhead.

She saw the rectangular shape of the armored diplomatic ship she needed to return to the Musashi.

“We need to get ourselves ready on the Musashi. This situation is urgent.”

“Heh heh. We’ve already been rushing things plenty. What good will rushing things even further do?”

Unfortunately, Masazumi could not deny they had been rushing things. But Hidetsugu had arrived to monitor things for Hashiba and Mogami had shown a refusal to obey.

“The balance of power Hashiba created across Oushuu, Kantou, and Sviet Rus might just collapse.”

“Hm? What makes you say that, Masazumi?”

“I’ll explain later. If possible, I want to gain a consensus on that and some other things with the diplomats we sent out to the three nations.”

She had a lot to think about. Or rather, the number of things to think about had just grown significantly.

And that included a lot to worry about.

…''Will Futayo be all right with her injuries?

She had been sent back to the Ariake ahead of the others, but that meant their Vice Chancellor had lost to Hashiba. The people on the Ariake would not have been able to see it, but the people in the village of Mito had seen it.

There was also the false information about Futayo being attacked aboard the Musashi from before. Everyone would still remember that, so this new information would be truly dangerous if it reached their ears.

Masazumi had made sure to instruct Ookubo and the PR Committee to report that there was a problem with the Tonbo Spare, but that she had driven off Hashiba’s Ten Spears with some help from the 5th Special Duty Officer and others. If anyone insisted the Vice Chancellor had lost, they just had to heal Futayo’s wounds and let everyone see the girl unharmed.

And the coming negotiations with the three nations would be a major enough event to erase that smaller incident from people’s minds. So…

“The question is how to handle the negotiations with the three nations.”

“In your opinion, Masazumi, when will that be?”

Masazumi responded to Asama’s question by looking up into the sky where the three fleets of those nations were only tiny dots in different directions.

Even if they returned to their headquarters, they would still need to regroup themselves after the day’s events.

“A lot happened, so I doubt they will finish that today. I have to preface this with ‘most likely’, but I doubt the three nations will want any other nation getting ahead of them. It will almost certainly be tomorrow night.”

“I see. Then should I secure a line to use in case we need to do a real-time broadcast tomorrow night? …Huh?”

Asama looked at the sign frame by her hand and tilted her head.

“I just got a divine mail from my dad. It says ‘spend the night over there’.”

“Heh heh heh. Way to go, Asama dad! Is he handing over his daughter’s hand before she’s even married!? Or is it a test to see if she’ll fit in one of my foolish brother’s concubine slots!? If so, we’ll get the following stat increases: Spiritual+5 Shooting+99 Impurity+66. So we’ll need to shove Suzu in there too to bring down the impurity levels!! Let’s get testing!”

“Stop deciding things for me!”

Asama blushed with her eyebrows raised and pointed toward the Aoi Sister and the Ariake.

“My dad only said to stay there! Besides, a shrine maiden has nothing to do with impurity! …Hm? What is it, Hanami? What’s that new meter?”

Hanami could not look Asama in the eye and closed a few sign frames displaying meters.

When Asama noticed, she eventually tapped Hanami on the back, but the Mouse continued working and did not turn around. There were simply too many of them to close.

“What a hardworking Mouse.”

“I feel like she’s gotten especially hardworking lately…”

Meanwhile, a wind blew in. It was the diplomatic ship arriving. Masazumi breathed a silent sigh of relief that they were finally moving on to the next stage. At the very least, she felt they had what they needed to get things moving. But…

“Hey!”

Someone leaned over the edge of the diplomatic ship. It was Naomasa.

''Is she here to greet us?'' wondered Masazumi, but then Naruze in her summer uniform flew from the deck on her broom. Masazumi tilted her head as the Technohexen circled through the sky on her way down toward them.

“What is it? There’s too many of you and you’re too lightly equipped for bodyguards.”

“We’ve got some trouble. The Committee Leader Alliance has taken action.”

Naruze shrugged as she explained and she held her palms upwards as if it were raining.

“I’d call it a rebellion, but I bet they’re calling it an uprising to bring peace.”

“…What?”

Masazumi and Asama expressed confusion and the Aoi Sister smiled with her eyebrows lowered, so Naruze pointed to the diplomatic ship. Naomasa was leaning over the edge, but someone else was a few meters away from her.

…''Students with rifles.

“Those are…underclassmen from the Public Morals Committee.”

Asama spoke slowly as if confirming the fact for herself.

That was when Masazumi caught on.

“So the Committee Leader Alliance that works for the Student Council is rising up against the Student Council and the Chancellor’s Officers.”

She knew why. She knew all too well.

Their defeat.

Since the defeat three weeks before, they had been doing their best to not promote war weariness among the people and they had been prioritizing the work on the Musashi’s modifications. In Masazumi’s view, the people had been worried but they were working toward their next move.

However, those who knew more of the true state of affairs were different. Most likely…

…''Have they decided further war is nothing but a danger!?

Once she understood, Masazumi let all of her emotions leak out.

“This is no time to be doing that!”

“Isn’t it, though? For the underclassmen and committees who haven’t stood on the front lines, that is.” Naruze remained entirely expressionless. “They have control of and agreement from a number of positions on the Ariake and the Musashi. …Since the Musashi is trying to leave port, they want to suggest to the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers that there might be a different possible future for us.”

Namely…

“For the Far East, does the Musashi really need to fight any longer? They want to ask if we could instead end the fighting and peacefully find a solution to the Apocalypse. And to do that…”

“A special student general assembly?”

“Judge. I guess when you’ve got experience with those, you catch on quickly.”

Naruze’s expression finally changed as a smile appeared on the corners of her mouth.

“They’re asking if there is ‘a different future’ available to us. In other words, to end our clash with Hashiba, give up on escaping our provisional rule, and to instead seal the Musashi here in Mito to live peacefully. They’re saying they need to ask us that in a special student general assembly. And they are saying the conclusion reached after discussing that possibility is the course Musashi should take.”

''So that’s it,'' muttered Masazumi in her heart.

“What about the engine division and the other residents?”

“Most of them are siding with us, but they say they’ll support the conclusion reached in the special student general assembly.”

“That’s being awfully calm. I just hope it’s because they trust us.”

Just as Masazumi brushed up her hair, the Aoi Sister leaned against the terrace railing, looked up into the sky, and laughed.

“Heh heh. This is interesting. Instead of a coup d’etat for a human resources update, it’s a revolution for an update to Musashi’s policy. Most likely, they don’t want to be king, but they do want to change the state of the nation. Their primary policy is pacifism. By advocating not fighting, they can make you out to be the faction proposing war and themselves to be the faction proposing peace. Thus anyone who opposes them will be treated as an opponent of peace and therefore deterred. It’s a clever method. Cheap, but still clever. …But Naruze, who was it that made this gutsy decision?”

Masazumi did not need Naruze to answer. She already knew.

“It was Representative Committee Head Ookubo and Public Morals Committee Head Kanou, wasn’t it?”

“How’d you know?”

“Because it’s in the Testament descriptions. If we think of this as part of the history recreation, it makes perfect sense.”

Masazumi sighed and opened a sign frame.

It displayed the previous year’s Student Council election. That was less than a year after she had arrived at this school. She had been elected as Vice President during that election, but…

“Look at the other candidate for Vice President.”

She showed the others the name of the initial candidate.

“Ookubo Tadachika. …She dropped out partway through and shifted her focus to becoming head of the Representative Committee. With two inherited names and the name recognition from that election, people were saying she would be a good candidate for the next Vice President. But…”

What was this?

“According to the Testament descriptions, Honda Masazumi had repeated political conflicts with the Ookubos and eventually drove back the Ookubo faction, but he eventually fell victim to a plot by Kanou Gozen who was connected to the Ookubo faction. From there, Honda Masazumi never returned to the political world.”

Everyone gasped, but the Aoi Sister laughed quietly.

“But you haven’t inherited your name.”

“I never thought that would actually be a consolation.”

She could only smile bitterly at that. But it did tell her something about Ookubo.

…''She is serious about this in her own way.

According to the Testament descriptions, the political conflict between Honda and Ookubo resulted in Ookubo’s fall. She had two inherited names and was said to be the best candidate for the next Vice President, so what would happen to her if she was outdone by someone with no inherited name?

She would lose everything she had built up.

That meant this was not a mere whim or a game.

“So we need to assume Ookubo is presenting us with the possibility she sees for Musashi and the Far East.”

“By the way,” said Naomasa.

She leaned over the edge of the deck and gave a cautious glance back toward the Public Morals Committee members watching over them from a distance.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Neshinbara was attacked last night and there was the thing with Futayo. …Do you think that was this Ookubo’s group?”

''I wonder about that,'' thought Masazumi.

She felt like this uprising and those attacks did not fit together. After all…

…''Doing that would reduce the legitimacy of their uprising.

But someone else spoke up before she could: Asama.

'''Asama:''' “I’m not so sure. It’s true something seemed a little off about Ookubo-san last night, but I feel like something doesn’t fit quite right when I think about her being behind the attack. …Of course, I might just be imagining things.”

“I see.” Naomasa nodded. “You know a lot about words, Asama-chi, so I’ll put that thought off for now. Still, it’s best to be on your guard.”

“Judge.” Naruze nodded too. “The fact remains that we were attacked and being on our guard is the Chancellor’s Officers’ job. The rest of you take things easy. You have us with you.”

But…

“What are you going to do, Masazumi? If her dropping out from the Student Council election is interpreted as an early recreation of her fall from the political world, the only one making a serious fall will be you. It’s not long until summer and now we’ve got all this trouble to deal with. And when we don’t have even an hour to spare…”

Naruze spat out a “keh” and Masazumi could only find her incredible.

However, someone took sudden action: the Aoi Sister. She swept back her hair and spoke.

“Well, sending out the nicest diplomatic ship was the best decision for them. Are they ‘protecting’ us as VIPs?”

If so…

“We really are going to have to have a sleepover tonight. …We have the meeting with the three nations tomorrow night, but before that, we have a meeting with the adorable children on the Ariake who are trying to usurp your authority and turn you into figureheads.”

“Most likely,” sighed Masazumi. What were the students supposed to do if they could not control the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers? “A special student general assembly. This will be our second one in just the first term. This academy has issues.”

“This is a notification from ‘Ariake’. The Musashi is shifting from departing standby mode to maintenance standby mode. Once the transition has been made, please return to your work posts. Also…” The announcement continued after a pause. “In preparation for Ariadust Academy’s special student general assembly, the various committees are working to temporarily remove the authority of the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers. All effort will be made to cause no trouble for the workers, normal citizens, and normal students, but please await the special student general assembly while looking out for each other. Over.”

“Ariake” calmly spoke in the sign frames that filled the Ariake with afternoon light.

When she heard those words, Isa was eating a late lunch from a bridge giving her a view of the engine division.

…''A special student general assembly, huh?

She had infiltrated the Ariake as a normal citizen, so she would only be a spectator of that event. If anything, she felt like she could pull off more of her ninja work while that was going on.

“I guess it could work.”

The topic of the special student general assembly would be announced later, but it seemed the committees wanted to criticize the members of the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers. Rather than replacing the leaders of Musashi, they wanted a general assembly to determine Musashi’s overall policy.

…''Although if they do change the policy, the Student Council will just be a figurehead.

This was led by someone with the inherited name of Ookubo. She had made a greeting on the ship-wide divine radio earlier.

Isa thought she had done a good job because after the initial greeting…

“As a separate issue at the special student general assembly, I intend to have the frustrations and problems of the normal citizens and students addressed. If you take those frustrations and problems to the members of the Representative and PR Committees, we will discuss their validity and work toward resolving them.”

In other words, they were willing to hear the complaints of the normal citizens and students. Most likely…

…''That must include the people temporarily living down below at the land ports in Mito territory.

By listening to those complaints toward Musashi’s current state, Ookubo’s faction could bring those people to their side.

And since the source of those complaints would be “the enemy”, the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers’ position would weaken.

It was a lot like the diversions that a ninja would use in enemy territory.

A portion of that information strategy was already beginning. Even in the engine division, a member of the PR Committee wearing a bunny outfit had arrived in front of the torii-style bulletin board device. Everyone lined up and the guy in the front acted as their representative by voicing their first complaint.

“Why didn’t the PR Committee send a young girl here? Why did you send us some guy from the Mongolian Religious Talisman Kombat Club aka MoRTal Kombat? Are you mocking us with that bunny outfit? Is this some kind of challenge?”

“I didn’t want to dress like this either! But the Committee Head is a glasses girl!”

“Tch. Then it can’t be helped… But you’d better lend me your collection sometime. You’ve got one, don’t you?”

When the boy responded in the affirmative, the line of engine division workers began listing off their daily concerns.

“Crossdressing is fine, but it’s a problem when he strips and I kind of like it.”

“I liked the Vice President better in pants, so could she maybe wear those again?”

“I don’t care if the Secretary makes sudden heroic poses while he grabs a porn doujinshi in the bookstore, but can he stop smiling at us and saying, ‘This one hasn’t hit it big yet, so it’s still rare! Oh, you too!? You must have the same Sinister Sight of Superb Selection!’ That’s gotta be against the rules!!”

''This place likes to keep things interesting,'' thought Isa as she continued eating her lunch.

Based on the weight, she guessed the bamboo leaf wrapping she held contained rice balls like that morning.

…''Oh, these ones are cooked!

There were three. One had nothing inside, one had kinpira inside, and one had roasted chicken inside. There was also some sweet root and stem vegetables cooked simply with some salt.

Unlike that morning, she had been working, so she had been given a main dish with stronger flavoring and vegetables that were more flavorful and tougher.

…''That’s just what I needed.

The provided tea was a warm barley tea that did not forcibly erase the flavor of the food.

She was just about moved to tears.

The bamboo leaf wrapping said it was from Rarely Metabolizable of the Restaurants Guild, so she decided to check it out later. While she had work to do on the Musashi, she had not been restricted from living her life at the same time. She wanted to enjoy this like a trip when she could.

After all, it was possible she could be leaving very soon. So…

“Anayama.”

“Hm? What is it? Oh, I’m in the middle of some work, but I can skip out on that for a bit.”

''No, you can’t,'' thought Isa as she spoke with a ninja technique.

“I think I might be kind of on the side of Musashi’s Chancellor’s Officers and Student Council.”

It took a few seconds for Anayama to respond, but his voice clearly reached her.

“Oh? And why is that?”

“Testament,” replied Isa while chewing on the vegetables and feeling the flavor leak into her mouth. “I…”

She gulped.

“I’ve been looking around since last night and I’ve seen the engine division today. To be blunt, the Musashi is a great place for people who love machines as much as I do.”

''Oh, the chicken’s really good,'' she thought.

“I know everyone at our academy’s doing their best so I can’t compare our facilities and equipment to the ones here…but the stuff here really is nice.”

So…

“I want to destroy it if I can.”

“That’s a feeling I’m not sure I understand.”

“C’mon, it’s simple. It’s not mine, it’s really well-made, and it’s our enemy’s, right? So I can destroy it, destroying it would be a good thing, and I want to destroy it. So shouldn’t I destroy it? It seems like a waste, but if it’s going to be destroyed one way or another…”

She nodded.

“I want to be the one to do it if I can. This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“Is this…love?”

“Yeah, it’s that mistaken idea that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance and if you miss it ‘I may never love again’. In a manga, that’s the type of guy that ends up having his heart shaken by a girl innocently approaching about five pages later. And it’s the type of guy that ends up liking rejections in stories once they grow up. That was popular in the temple burning stories for a bit, wasn’t it? There was that immediate punchline with ‘Clear my mind and even this fire will feel- arrrrrgh!’ But the endorphins in his brain allowed him to endure the heat and he ended up achieving enlightenment as the temple burned down around him while he twitched on his back with a blank-eyed smile and double Buddhist hand gestures.”

“I’m sorry, Isa-kun, but have you been reading a lot lately? Is this Miyoshi-san’s influence?”

“Well, there was a whole bunch of stuff piled up last night. It was labelled ‘for trade’, so I can see why the other nations think Musashi has poor public morals or is full of child pornography. You can get hooked on this stuff.”

Isa then changed the subject.

“Anyway, I just rigged another three of the gravitational accelerators. …If the Musashi enters gravitational cruising, the rear port side will go boom. But…”

“But?”

“If this rebellion or whatever it is works, we won’t get to see that.”

''I don’t want that,'' she thought.

“Anayama, I want to see the Musashi go boom.”

“And that’s why you’re siding with their Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers?”

“Testament. If Musashi gets all passive, I’ll never get to see it go boom. And if it goes boom, it’ll increase the selling power of our name. Isn’t that right?”

“Hmm… That might be true in general, but my intelligence gathering ability might be more popular among experts and thus with the kind of people who would actually hire us.”

“I see… Well, if you say so, then it must be true…”

Isa looked down to the lower level and saw Mishina Hiro there. She pulled a morning rice ball from her lab coat’s pocket and took a bite.

“Hey, a lot’s happening, but let’s go fix the problems we found during that mode shift! If you’re free and have worked down below, come with me!”

They all nodded and replied with “judge”, but a few of them pointed at the bunny suit boy holding the opinion box.

“We’ll be down after we finish making our complaints about the Chancellor!”

Isa laughed bitterly.

“Ah ha ha. That Chancellor sure is popular. Anayama, you might just fail.”

“That Chancellor is in Sviet Rus right now.”

“Is that so?”

Isa stood up, folded up the bamboo leaf wrapping, put it in her pocket, and started toward the stairs down.

That was when a large sign frame appeared near the engine division’s ceiling.

It was specialized for video and it showed a room with neatly arranged tatami mats but little furnishings.

Two people faced each other diagonally while sitting on cushions.

“That’s that Ookubo person and the automaton named Kanou.”

As everyone looked up at the screen, the automaton turned to face them.

The yellow ink-style lettering at the bottom said, “An Emergency Audience from the Student Council Room: Musashi’s Current Possibilities”.

“Good day, everyone. I am Kanou and I will be in charge of today’s broadcast of Armor Piercing Room, the talk show that breaks into one’s true thoughts.”

She gestured to Ookubo opposite her.

“I would like to hear what Ookubo-sama has to say about her plans, objective, and topic for the special student general assembly she has called for, as well as what effect it will have on everyone’s busy lives. Now…”

With that, Ookubo turned around.

She bowed and then looked to the viewers. Isa looked to the black eyes behind the glasses.

…''Wow.

There was strength in those eyes. She was not just looking toward the viewer. She knew what it meant to look “at” someone.

Isa’s ninja intuition told her this was probably a troublesome person and the girl’s voice descended from the sign frame.

“Judge. Everyone, I am Ookubo Tadachika, second year of Musashi Ariadust Academy and the head of the Representative Committee. I am here in order to ask you all something today. First, I would like to address the special student general assembly that will be held tomorrow afternoon at one.”

Isa listened to Ookubo’s voice while viewing her focused eyes.

“The current Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers wish to stop the Apocalypse by opposing the great powers of Hashiba, P.A. Oda, and the Testament Union. We would like to propose a different method. One that avoids conflict to peacefully stop the Apocalypse.”

In other words…

“I would like to propose to all of you the possibility that Musashi can both avoid battle and have world peace.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 40|Chapter 40]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 42|Chapter 42]]
}}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 24

2016-03-25T16:44:04Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 24: Two Battles */ typos

==Chapter 24: Two Battles==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0867.png|thumb]]
''I understand

''I really do

''So

''Please

Sayama stood in a large field located high in the sky.

There was green grass below his feet.

A white open-air bell tower was located at the far end of the field.

There were trees on either side and the pallets sealing the Concept Cores sat beyond them.

This Concept Core creation facility was made from Noah’s residential area.

It was located on the roof at the base of the Leviathan’s wings.

The sky was cloudy, but the field was somehow brightly lit.

Sayama felt Shinjou’s presence behind him and he saw his enemy in front of him.

Mikoku wore a black armored uniform and the automaton had white wings.

There was no wind and the sounds of battle no longer reached them. He asked a question within that silent green and white.

“You are not made of salt, I take it?”

Mikoku gave a small smile.

“I am not in the habit of giving salt to guests.”

“Guests, are we?”

“Yes. Everyone is a guest.”

Sayama listened as she continued.

“After all, everyone will be leaving me.”

“I see,” he muttered.

Before he could think of what to say, the most natural words left his mouth.

“I will make you cry.”

Mikoku’s expression quickly changed to one of slight surprise.

“Was that your emotion?”

“No. I have something to teach you. That is all.”

Sayama drew Mukiti’s wooden sword from his waist.

“Both sides have a single condition for victory. For us, it is to use the Concept Cores to preserve the seals of heaven and earth until 10:30. That will reject the Leviathan’s positive concepts as fakes and prevent their creation. Your plan to release the immortality concept and create a new world will be stopped and we will win.”

“Ours is the opposite. We must defeat you to stop the seals of heaven and earth before 10:30. The Leviathan can complete its positive concepts and renew the world.”

Sayama nodded.

“Basically, it comes down to which side is still standing come 10:30.”

He held the wooden sword up in both Georgiuses and the weapon seemed to waver.

It was a watery mist.

Mukiti’s body was escaping the wooden sword and creating a transparent blade.

That blade would freeze and break through anything around it.

At the same time, a dragon of heat stood up around Shinjou.

“Sayama-kun.”

He heard her voice.

“You’re aching, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Mikoku was drawing a sword up ahead.

Noah was spreading her wings behind the girl.

Noah was surrounded by freezing and blowing water vapor as well as shimmering heat and gravity.

Mikoku could swing her blade and Noah could produce any kind of attack, but…

“Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama removed his right hand from his wooden sword.

“Take this.”

He tossed her the right Georgius.

“Ah,” she said as she caught it. “U-um, but this…”

“No need to be embarrassed. …We will fight together. That is what this means, Shinjou-kun.”

He then prepared to fight. He faced Mikoku and Noah with his water sword raised to the left.

“Is there any need to name ourselves?”

Mikoku responded by shaking her head.

In that instant, the four of them began to move.

There was sound.

It filled the wide places on the battlefield, the narrow places, the center, and the corners. It was everywhere.

The clashing of power naturally produced sound.

There were voices as well.

They were the singing voices of automatons. In addition to Noah herself, the dolls, gods of war, and mechanical dragons on the battlefield were singing along with their leader.

They sang throughout the battlefield.

“Listen. Please listen.”

Their voices continued.

“In this world of rapid creation and destruction,

“The one and only invariable rule is the irreversibility of destruction.”

They sang loudly.

“The worlds began as only one.

“But the great numbers they created brought only more destruction.”

Their voices reverberated around them.

“Birth is the error leading to destruction.

“Growth is the syntax leading to destruction.

“And destruction is the absolute endcode.”

They cried out.

“This world has an ending.

“This world has no birth.

“This world will continue to end.

“It cannot continue to give birth.”

It grew to a roar.

“The sky.

“The moon.

“The stars.

“The sea.

“The earth.

“The wind.

“The flowers.

“And even light, sound, and the wills of mankind.

“If anything will not be destroyed, please tell us.”

Their voices seemed to split apart.

“At a random point of this world of destruction.”

As if they longed for something.

“I am living.”

No.

“I am searching for the answer.”

They ''were'' longing for something.

“And I am always aching!”

Shinjou fired without end.

She supported the overheated barrel with the Georgius on her right hand.

That negative Georgius provided a certain power to the shimmering serpent protecting her.

…''The power of the opposite!

That opposite power reversed the dragon’s heat and cooled the barrel.

“Weird” “Diet” “Ticked” “Duel” “Leave it to me”

During the high speed battle, the game of shiritori being played on top of Ex-St never stopped.

But the speed with which they wrote out the words told Shinjou that Wanambi was building momentum.

Their target was Noah.

Shinjou was shooting down every single bullet and attack that Noah fired.

She would not allow anything to interfere with Sayama and Mikoku who fought between her and Noah.

She switched between straight shots and scatter shots with the C button.

Normal shots used the A button and a blast using all of the built up energy used the B button.

Her shots tore, tore, pierced, and scattered.

Whenever Noah targeted her, she would evade.

She took the smallest dodge necessary. She never made any exaggerated movements.

She spotted the enemy bullets and spun around, allowing those bullets to pass below her skirt and shoulder armor guards.

But none of those counted as a hit.

…''If it doesn’t hit you, you don’t lose a life!

It took experience to have an instinctual understanding of something that seemed so obvious.

She continued playing.

''What is the most fundamental and beautiful type of play-through?'' she asked herself.

She knew the answer.

“A one-coin victory!!”

She fired.

Noah responded by deflecting the white cannon’s attacks with gravity barriers.

And that was not all.

When Noah swung her arms, spheres of light appeared.

The bluish-white spheres of lightning were three meters wide, she continually threw them to either side, and they quickly surrounded the green battlefield.

There were sixty-three in all.

Noah then held her right hand forward.

“Begin targeting!”

Shinjou realized red reticles had appeared on the grass at her feet.

An attack was coming. The sixty-three lightning spheres were going to fire on her.

“————!!”

Shinjou did not hesitate. She fired and did so while rotating Ex-St behind herself.

She destroyed the closest lightning sphere behind her, creating a hole in the lightning formation.

…''That gives me a safe zone!!

[[Image:OnC_v14_0877.jpg|thumb]]

She aimed Ex-St toward the approaching bundles of lightning while jumping through the gap behind her.

She took a back step.

Her sights were already turned toward the bundles of lightning targeting her.

Moving behind the lightning spheres restricted the enemy’s angle of fire. The closest one and the next eight on either side could no longer fire on her.

The enemy could use a total of forty-six lightning cannons.

Shinjou fought back.

And as she fired, the bluish-white light shattered.

The light sprayed up into the sky.

She could only hear her own breathing as she rapidly tapped the A button.

Then Noah began to move. To throw off Shinjou’s aim, she had the sixty-two lightning spheres circle around her like a folkdance.

But even as they rotated, Shinjou followed them. An acceleration charm burst.

“Speed up!”

She ran to the side while looking up and letting the flowers of gunfire blossom.

She did not let any of the approaching light escape. If she missed any of that lightning, she would be destroyed.

And she had a single way of destroying it.

…''Rapid fire!

Rapid fire was her only option now.

The tapping sound of the A button had stabilized. The button had passed an endurance test of more than one hundred thousand presses, so it was not going to be destroyed as it swept aside such a puny number of attacks.

So with more-than-wholehearted focus, Shinjou entered a realm void of hesitation and cessation and she produced the song of continuous fire.

This was a world of battle. It was the last level of the many worlds.

“…!”

Higher. She would lift herself higher. She would lift herself to the top of this world’s high score list.

“Right!”

Shinjou held Ex-St at the ready as she spun around.

She destroyed more and more as she fired through each and every lightning sphere from one end to the other.

Her shots pierced through every last one and they exploded.

She ran through that chain of explosive light and toward Noah.

Noah looked up in surprise.

“!?”

The chain of lightning struck her.

It crashed into her and sent her flying.

The wings on her back shattered, she bent backwards, and she trembled.

“————!!”

But Noah continued fighting.

She forcibly swept aside the lightning with her gravitational control, let it surround her, and…

“This is not over yet!! Over!”

She produced a shimmering of heat directly above herself.

It was a size bigger than the balls of lightning and a vertical line of them appeared on either side.

“Altogether, the Leviathan’s spare energy reaches 256! …Here I go!!”

She swung both arms toward Shinjou.

At the same time, the shimmering spheres audibly vanished.

It sounded like splitting stone and something more came from Noah’s hands.

“This is the same as the convergence of the Leviathan’s main cannon!”

The distorting power wrapped in lightning was fired toward Shinjou.

“Over!!”

The twelve meter wide attack was equal to the dragon cannon blast that had annihilated Japanese UCAT.

Shinjou was faced with that great power, but…

“…!!”

She raised Ex-St again, dug her feet into the ground, and…

“Bomber!!”

A great white light almost seemed to explode from the barrel.

“Goooo!!”

The straight white light intercepted the distorting power.

She had built up plenty of energy during the earlier rapid fire. And…

“Wanambi!”

She saw Wanambi wrap around Ex-St.

The energy released from the cooled cannon surpassed the word “momentum” as it simply fired its white light.

But…

“Do you think a human can stand up to a dragon, Shinjou Sadagiri!? Over.”

Sure enough, the trembling white light was pushed back by the distorting power.

The ammunition belts of distortion above Noah’s shoulders were rapidly consumed.

And that pushed back on Shinjou’s white light all the more.

A reaction sphere appeared where the light collided and split.

The white light and the black distortion mixed together and formed a massive spherical field of energy.

That field grew to five meters in an instant and continued to grow toward Shinjou.

And it did not end there.

Pure-white forms arrived from either side of the field.

One was a mechanical dragon and the other was a god of war. They were Seraph No. 0 and Lords No. 0.

Shinjou gasped when she saw them to the left and right.

“What!? No fair making this a mid-boss rush!!”

“But they are a part of me. Seraph No. 0 and Lords No. 0 are both my power,” said Noah. “Over.”

The mechanical dragon and god of war aimed their main cannon or sword toward Shinjou. Wanambi could transform heat into himself, but he was busy cooling Ex-St. If Wanambi moved away, Noah would immediately push in on Shinjou.

But the situation changed.

The pure-white god of war and mechanical dragon were blown away.

“!?”

The pure-white mechanical dragon was hit by a red, white, and blue mechanical dragon colliding with its side.

The pure-white god of war was hit by a white god of war falling from the heavens.

Who were they? Mikoku shouted their names as she fought Sayama.

“Alex…and Tatsumi!?”

“That’s right.”

The answer came from the figure standing on Typhon’s shoulder while Lords No. 0 righted itself in midair.

It was Tatsumi.

She lightly clenched her trembling hands and her face was pale, but she still faced her enemy.

“No interference, okay?”

Shinjou nodded.

While continuing to fire white light from Ex-St and while trembling, Shinjou shouted toward Noah.

“I am your only opponent!”

“Then let us end this. Over.”

Noah rearranged the distorting ammunition belts reaching up toward the heavens.

She arranged them into four stacks.

“Double the power. Over.”

With the distorting cannon doubled, Shinjou was pushed back by the reverse flow reaching her through Ex-St.

The reaction sphere, the energy, the pressure, and everything else were pushing her way.

“…!”

Sayama and Mikoku carried out a rapid swordfight within the light.

This was their third clash.

Neither of them was sure if they should call the score one-to-one.

The first time, Mikoku had tried for a draw, but Shino had gotten in the way.

The second time, Sayama had won the battle, but Mikoku had kept the war going.

Then what would happen this third time?

Mikoku no longer saw a draw as an option.

She would either win or lose.

And she threw her sword forward to receive that answer.

Distorting power was racing through the air.

A white cannon blast joined it.

Noah and Shinjou were fighting.

No, everyone was fighting.

The entire world was trying to stop what she wanted.

…''Do they not want this?

Mikoku wondered about that.

To bring the entire world back to life was to renew the world.

The world would briefly disappear.

“Do you not want that? But what about it do you not like?”

She threw her sword forward and felt Tokyo’s illumination below.

“Do you not like the idea of losing everything the world has inherited? Or do you not like that the world will disappear and you too will disappear?”

If it was the latter…

“You are only worried about yourself.”

The words she sent out with her sword strikes were answered with a voice and another sword.

“Then…I have one thing to ask you.”

Sayama raised his eyebrows as he threw his water blade toward her.

“You claim you never want to feel sad again. So aren’t you too only worried about yourself?”

“What other option is there!?”

She launched her sword.

Her skill with the blade was greater.

“I think with emotion and you think with reason! You reach for your reason even as you ache, but that pain is the proof of your inconsistency!”

She chained her slashes together, crouched down as she moved forward, and viewed the surrounding situation.

Noah and Shinjou were fighting, but…

“Look! Shinjou is obviously being pushed back! Yes, Noah has no emotions. She truly is my opposite! But Shinjou is different. She is as inconsistent and contradictory as you.”

She deflected Sayama’s water sword upwards.

She stepped forward and stayed low.

“Contradictions makes anything possible!? No! It only leaves everything incomplete!!”

Her sword ripped at Sayama’s body.

But that attack only tore a shallow gouge from his stomach to his chest.

His quick evasion came from his martial arts background.

Mikoku had not stepped in close enough because she had been facing him in the realm of sword fighting.

And as they showed off their strong points and weak points, the reaction sphere created from Noah and Shinjou’s power whipped up the wind and created lightning overhead.

The flashes of white light illuminated them again and again as Mikoku pursued Sayama.

She continued forward as he back stepped away.

“If you asked me whether emotion or reason is more powerful, I would tell you either one can be! It comes down to which one has been mastered more thoroughly!!”

And…

“I am merely transforming this inconsistent world into one where our emotions can rest easy! What is wrong with that!?”

“Then let me say this!”

Sayama swung his blade, but it was not even worth blocking since his hips were not behind it.

However, he did stop her attack with it.

“I will make you cry!”

“So what!?”

Sayama responded to her questioning attack by swinging his body. He deflected her strike with a compact movement of the water blade.

“Let me tell you an old story! Once, a boy lost his parents and became hopelessly full of himself! The lecherous old man the boy was left with would always say the same thing whenever the boy did something: ‘I will make you cry’!”

“What does that-…?”

“Do you still not understand!?” shouted Sayama. “Emotions can be dealt with so long as you cry!!”

“Is that your idea of reason!?”

Mikoku ran and slammed her blade against his. Their foreheads collided as they tried to push each other back and Sayama gave another shout.

“You are trying to run away before you have finished crying! You are trying to run away from this very world!”

“But Shino died!!” roared Mikoku as she stared Sayama in the eye. “Whether I try to run away or stay, Shino is still just as dead! She died!”

Mikoku used all of her strength to knock Sayama away.

She then crouched down and raised her sword on the left.

She prepared it like a baseball bat, but she leaned and ran forward as if to run into him herself.

She was using everything at her disposal to beat him down by force.

“Answer me if you can! This world is an inconsistent contradiction of both emotion and reason, but what does that accomplish!? All it brought was death! Isn’t that right!? And you…”

She knew she had to say this.

“You lost your parents, so you should already understand this!!”

For an instant, all movement vanished from Sayama’s body.

He was aching.

''That is your flaw,'' thought Mikoku as she saw him stop save for a faint tremor.

He attempted to hold two incompatible things within himself and he was tormented by the harsh reaction.

He could not endure it, no matter how strong a front he put up.

So she sent out her sword.

She first knocked Sayama’s wooden sword up from below.

The blow hit.

With a solid sound, the wooden sword flew through the air, Sayama’s arms were shot upwards, and his body bent backwards.

Mikoku pulled back her weapon as if drawing in her body.

Her body had twisted from the left to the upper right, so she pulled it back to the lower left.

She would drop her blade across Sayama’s arching body.

Mikoku spoke as she saw Noah and Shinjou’s battle continuing in Noah’s favor.

“Farewell!”

“Sayama-kun!?”

Shinjou was briefly distracted by Sayama and Mikoku’s battle.

“Do you have time to look away? Over.”

Pushed by Noah’s words and the pressure of the reaction sphere, Shinjou’s feet slid back over the grass.

She was worried about this battle and about Sayama.

But…

…''It’ll be okay!

She shouted the words to help convince herself.

“It’ll be okay!!”

Facing forward meant facing her enemy.

She spoke while holding her ground so she would not be blown away.

“Um!”

She watched the four ammunition belts being consumed above Noah’s shoulders.

“If you think that’s enough to win, then this will be easy!!”

Shinjou opened Ex-St’s console. Information on Ex-St’s current state appeared in front of the transparent floating image that functioned as a sight.

It was badly overheated, but that was not what she was interested in.

“Bomber stock.”

She displayed the number of charged shots she had stored. A maximum of seventeen could be stored at one time.

“I currently have sixteen plus the one I’m firing right now.”

“—————”

Noah frowned slightly, but Shinjou did not care.

“How much fighting do you think I did on the way here? You two were just watching, but we ran, endured, and cried out so many times. So…so…”

She gave a shout.

“I, Shinjou Sadagiri, will now fire all of my bomber shots!!”

''Such luxury,'' she thought. ''I can’t believe I have the luxury of making an attack like this.

In a quick succession of shots, she would use up everything she had built up.

…''You don’t get to fire sixteen in a row very often.

So she prepared her finger and breathed in.

“I only have one chance at this!!”

She began.

She stepped forward as if pushing on the reaction sphere that was already ten meters across.

“Here goes!!”

She activated some acceleration charms and leaped forward.

Her attacks were energy. The greater the distance, the more they would be weakened, so she knew the most effective method.

“A point-blank rapid fire barrage!!”

She used her leap to push in on and shake the reaction sphere and to fly toward Noah.

She began her rapid-fire barrage at the same time.

Mikoku and Sayama’s battle was also approaching its conclusion.

Mikoku and Sayama.

Noah and Shinjou.

The two pairs synchronized their movements.

Mikoku realized Shinjou had flown up overhead.

Her target was Noah, not Mikoku.

But if Shinjou was moving so much…

“Noah!?”

She received no response.

No, something even more important than an answer occurred before her eyes.

Sayama moved in response to her sword.

“————!”

He suddenly swung his body as if tearing it away from her.

…''He escaped the pain and moved!?

This had all happened in an instant. It was too soon for him to recover.

Mikoku had watched his mock battle with 2nd-Gear where Sayama had recovered from this pain from the past, but it had taken time, it had left him shaking, and it had been far from perfect.

But this had been much faster and he was not trembling in the slightest.

He jumped up, fell back, and dodged her dropping blade.

“You have got to be kidding me!!”

Shinjou saw Sayama use his own will to shatter the pain from the past.

Unlike during the battle with 2nd-Gear, he knew the meaning of the past.

He knew his feelings would never reach the past and he knew the many things that would never return. That was the source of his pain and it had grown even deeper than before, but at the same time…

…''You understand it now, don’t you?

“After learning so much, you understand what our parents were thinking,” shouted Shinjou as she fired. “It might make you sad, but you’re glad you understand what exactly it was we lost, aren’t you!?”

Sayama eloquently replied with his movements.

As Shinjou fired, he gave a shout and moved forward.

“Precisely, Shinjou-kun!!”

Mikoku took a defensive stance as Sayama approached.

He brought his right knee forward and spread his arms back like wings as he charged in toward her.

“Toda Mikoku! The new world you desire only exists in the past!”

“I will regain what was lost! Of course it exists there!”

“Then are you going to give up on yourself!?”

She heard his voice as he raced forward.

“What was it you inherited from the others? Wasn’t it a life in this world!?”

She held her sword low and shouted her true thoughts back at him.

“Are you trying to say this world is a richer one than the eleven that were lost!?”

“Of course!! After all, this world was made by those of us who have inherited everything that came before, so it must have more than the eleven worlds that led the way!”

Sayama quickly filled the gap between them.

“To inherit something is not just to gain the past. It also gives you the right to continue on ahead! The ''present'' exists as a contradictory combination of the ''future'' and the ''past'', Toda Mikoku! Thus, we are attempting to move forward, but you are not even inheriting the past. You are giving up on the present to become the past!!”

“But that is what our emotions want!”

Mikoku threw herself forward as she shouted back at him and she swung a quick sword strike from below.

“If desiring that contradiction leads to pain, then it is safer to immerse yourself in the unchanging past!”

“Then let me say this!”

Sayama leaned forward as he approached.

“Earlier, you mocked my simultaneous suppression and desire for this pain as inconsistent, didn’t you!? But let me say this: emotion and reason can coexist! After all…”

Sayama’s left leg suddenly kicked her rising blade aside.

“Wha-!?”

The action was only possible given his great speed.

And when he kicked his right leg forward, Mikoku knew it would hit her. She had no time to dodge it, but she did hear his voice.

“I ask you!”

His kick landed.

Mikoku bent backward and was knocked from her feet, but her sword did not leave her right hand.

Her body was shaking from the impact. Her consciousness had almost left her and she could not breathe.

But the philosopher’s stone in her chest told her that she could continue to fight.

She had a certain power.

That high-speed regeneration instantly adjusted her body.

Pain filled her. It felt like her entire body was being squeezed.

But that was precisely what she had inherited.

…''This is my power!

As long as she had this, she could continue to fight.

…''Yes.

“I cannot lose!”

That was when Sayama attacked again and spoke the same words as before.

“I ask you!!”

On a count of 1 2 3, he attacked from the left.

“It is both emotion and reason.”

He reversed his body to make a right smash.

“Yet it is neither.”

He was fast.

“It produces both resignation and hope.”

A sequence of heavy blows reached her.

“It can never end, yet it can be ended.”

Her body floated upwards, but an instantaneous adjustment allowed her to hear his voice.

“It is a human virtue, yet it can also be called a mistake.”

An attack from the right rang through her body.

“It is contradictory, yet it is also perfectly logical.”

She bent backwards.

“It is everything and yet it is the one thing at the base of both emotion and reason.”

He spun his body to build speed for a right hook while also preparing his left fist down low.

“Do you know what it is!?”

Mikoku instantly realized the answer, but she was not going to answer with words.

The answer would be shown by this battle’s outcome.

“If what you speak of truly exists, then prove it through the outcome here!!”

As if answering her cry, her body ached and adjusted itself.

She straightened her backwards-leaning body and swung the sword in her right hand.

“Not even your Georgius could break my power, remember!? In that case…”

She launched her attack toward Sayama who raised his left fist in front of her.

“My emotions are an unbreakable power!!”

She did it.

It was an excellent sword strike. The strike seemed to follow the sword’s own wishes. She felt like it was flying forward on its own and she was merely placing her hand alongside it.

If this did not slice through him, something was clearly wrong.

But then she saw it.

She saw the beginning of an answer overhead.

Shinjou moved through the air.

She had heard Sayama’s question while she shot her rapid fire blasts toward Noah.

She knew the answer to his question.

So she proved her answer.

In a single second, that bearer of the rapid fire blasts would settle this battle.

That was known as an instant kill.

“!!”

Pushed by the rapid fire, the reaction sphere crashed into Noah.

Noah endured it with a gravity barrier, but it suddenly surpassed her limits and slammed her onto the grass.

“————!!”

An explosion rose into the sky and the Leviathan shook.

“Sayama-kun!”

Shinjou took action to solidify her proof of Sayama’s answer.

She gave the answer to his question.

What Mikoku saw happened in an instant.

Before she could swing down her blade, a silver light flew forward from behind her.

It looked like a coin.

…''A chip?

A hand caught it in front of her.

It was Sayama’s.

His left hand was raised to attack and his right hand caught the chip.

He then swapped out the chip for the one in his positive Georgius.

“The negative one!?”

Both Georgiuses had finished warming up due to the repeated strikes of Mukiti’s wooden sword and Shinjou’s cannon blasts. By swapping out the chips, he had filled Georgius with the conflicting power.

“The positive in the negative and the negative in the positive. This is Georgius’s true form!!”

As soon as he completed his shout, Georgius emitted a powerful light. It was a black and white light.

“!?”

The two powers flew with tremendous speed.

And they slipped below her sword.

“I will give you the answer! What is it that is made up of emotion and reason, that produces all things, and that allows even contradictions? It is something everyone has.”

Sayama and Shinjou’s voices rang out in unison to give the answer.

“It is the power of one’s will!!”

It reached her.

“Remember this! Both emotion and reason are but a single part of a thinking mind!”

The counterattack exploded in Mikoku’s chest.

Mikoku had been hit by one half of Georgius.

Because it was incomplete, it brought forth a certain result.

On the skin below Mikoku’s shredded collar, the contradictory fist shattered her philosopher’s stone.

Instead of just splitting, it shattered into a spray.

She bent back from the impact, and…

“Ah…”

The shattered stone loosened its form and, in a desperate attempt to survive, fused with another color hanging from Mikoku’s neck.

It fused with the blue philosopher’s stone Shino had left behind. The blue light combined, formed a ball, and became one.

Afterwards, Mikoku was unable to stop the impact that had struck her body.

“…!!”

She was slammed into the ground.

Shinjou saw the conclusion.

She breathed a sigh of relief while pressing the chipless Georgius to her chest.

In front of her, Sayama was gasping for breath and grabbing Mikoku’s arm.

“Come. You have inherited more of the past than anyone else. …If you can see nothing but the past, then we will help you to not give up on yourself and to create a new world here.”

Shinjou listened to what Sayama told his other self.

“After inheriting so much of the past, I am sure you will find somewhere where you can get serious.”

Shinjou smiled bitterly when he mentioned getting serious.

So she ran over to him and elbowed him in the side.

“You have to search for that too, don’t you?”

He smiled bitterly.

“I saw some of the answer during this battle. …I saw a hint in the idea of creating a new world here.”

“Eh?”

Shinjou looked surprised, but Sayama raised a finger in front of his nose to ask her to keep it a secret.

She frantically nodded and he whispered in her ear.

“It is a lot of fun to think about what kind of world I would find fun. I do not know what that would be, but I get the feeling it will be both difficult and fun to create.”

Shinjou felt a look of joy fill her face, so she helped Sayama get Mikoku back to her feet.

“If you do decide to do something, will you invite me first of all?”

“Of course. I will need you to write about it.”

She nodded and looked around. The entire area was silent.

According to the bell tower’s clock, it was 10:29 and that reminded Shinjou of something.

“We won.”

She picked up Mukiti’s wooden sword from the ground, but…

“No. We have not truly won yet, Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama suddenly spoke to her.

She turned toward his low but sharp voice and realized he was not looking her way.

He was looking one thing in particular. A doll, Noah, was standing on the grass.

She was injured and broken. Her hands were clasped in front of her waist and her head was somewhat lowered.

She showed no intention to attack.

But Sayama spoke.

“Noah-kun, this is not over yet, is it?”

“Eh?”

As soon as Shinjou expressed her surprise, Noah lowered her head a little and spoke.

“Testament.”

That word was a confirmation, but Shinjou did not understand what she meant.

…''W-wait a second!

“What do you mean it isn’t over yet!? Isn’t the battle over!? We completed the seal!”

The creation of the positive concepts inside the Leviathan would have been stopped.

What more could they fight over?

It happened a moment later.

“!?”

Shinjou felt a pulse.

It was not her own. The pulse shook this space itself.

This pulsating tremor of the very world shook the heavens and earth equally.

She looked up in surprise and found Noah looking her way.

“Do you understand? The Leviathan still holds the activating negative concepts. Over.”

Noah closed her eyes and spoke expressionlessly.

“Find a solution! If you do not…!”

The pulse sounded especially loudly.

“This world will fall to the negative side just as Top-Gear did! Over.”

With those words, Shinjou and Sayama were blasted into empty space.

She knew why. Noah had forced them away to safety as the Leviathan evolved to yet another combat form.

By the time she caught on, it was too late.

She was already in the sky. As it grew more distant overhead, the Leviathan began to spread out its curled up body.

Pieces of armor measuring several hundred meters were stretching out and remaking the great dragon’s body.

…''I can’t believe this.

Just as Sayama had said, there was more to that great dragon.

…''What’s going to happen!?

She heard Noah’s weak voice.

“The Leviathan will now imprison the uncontrollable negative concepts…”

Shinjou never heard the automaton say “over”.

That meant Noah had lost control of the Leviathan.

The positive concepts had been meant to oppose the negative concepts, so stopping their creation had allowed the negative concepts to rapidly eat into Noah’s interior.

“It’s lost control!?”

Shinjou saw the color white rising through the sky.

It was wings.

The angels fighting in the sky and on the surface had been summoned back to their home.

The color white returned to heaven while paying them no heed.

They would receive physical adjustments from the Leviathan, master of the negative concepts.

Shinjou had a thought as she and Sayama fell toward the others below: ''The world has decided what it intends to do.

“But the world itself will still be judged.”

Shinjou breathed in and shouted toward the white light gathering in the heavens.

“We’re about to judge whether this world can remain or not!”

It was 10:30 PM.

Once the negative concepts inside the Leviathan realized that the positive concepts binding them would not grow any further, they rapidly began multiplying like living creatures.

They took control of their host, the Leviathan, and they used the Leviathan’s thought circuits to gain crude thoughts of their own.

This created a will. Its duty as the negative was to desire the annihilation of anything positive.

A contradiction allowance concept was restraining it, but once its activation surpassed that, the world would pass its critical point and be annihilated.

And the Leviathan knew two things: it was trapped in a small space and there were those who would oppose it.

It also lacked the power it need for a complete activation.

So the Leviathan gave its children new orders and gathered them inside.

That heavenly host was immersed in negative concepts.

To fight back, UCAT prioritized maintaining the seal while also settling on a certain plan. This plan would allow them to fully strike back against these ten powerful negative concepts.

“Operation Leviathan Release.”

That was the plan’s name.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_23|Chapter 23]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_25|Chapter 25]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Clash of Hexennacht:Volume2 Chapter 4

2016-03-24T15:44:15Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 4: Different Sorts of People */ typos

==Chapter 4: Different Sorts of People==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_117.png|thumb]]
''Reality has natural extraterritoriality, doesn’t it?

Hunter immediately summoned her Normal Device.

The ether light and engine noises shook the courtyard forest’s trees.

The leaves were still in their summer colors, but the shaking would have scattered the leaves everywhere had it been autumn.

Her hair fluttered in the wind.

…''Wow.

''This is like a duel,'' she thought as she asked the question on her mind.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“Why would you think that?”

“This is too much to be a coincidence.”

“You can think of it that way if you want.”

Mary began to move.

…''Oh.

Hunter saw the girl casually hang a plastic bag on a nearby branch. However…

…''That was fast!

She had not rushed the action, but there was no wasted movement and it had great speed due to the great reach provided by her height. She had clearly taken fewer steps than would normally have been necessary, but perhaps due to her excellent balance, it looked perfectly natural.

She was not strengthened by any kind of spell. It was pure martial arts.

“Um…”

“Yes?”

Once Mary returned to the center of the path, Hunter asked an honest question.

“Are you always like ''that''?”

“Like what?”

''So she is.

''This could be bad. She might know how impressive that action was, but she doesn’t find it strange.

Hunter remembered how suddenly the girl had vanished when leaving the dining hall. She may have been moving “like a normal person” back then out of concern for Hunter’s group and the surrounding people.

But…

“Are you asking for a fight?”

“I believe you are the one preparing to attack me.”

“True enough.”

Hunter was Rank 4 and her opponent was Rank 2. That was within the acceptable range for a Ranker battle, but Mary had challenged Rank 3 Kagami and Horinouchi to a battle.

It was out of the ordinary for Hunter to attack now, but there was something she had to say.

“Do you think you can just leave after sending killer intent my way?”

She was referring to lunchtime and now.

She did not know if this meeting was a coincidence or not, but…

“This is the second time.”

Mary was blatantly sending killer intent toward her.

“The first time it was directed at Kagami, but I think you could say I was included in that.”

“Are you asking for a fight?”

Provoking her was meaningless. Mary’s tone and words made that clear, so…

“What if I…”

Just as Hunter planned to ask “am”, Mary continued in her previous tone.

“What can you do with that Normal Device?”

“What?”

As soon as Hunter expressed her confusion, a few spell circles appeared by her hands.

…''Damage detected!?

She looked up and she saw it.

The ram and ether pile had been entirely torn off from the front of the Hedgehog.

Hunter briefly recalled the specs of her Device.

The pile section of her Normal Device had the same super armor and hardness as the Magino Frame. The ram’s armor was thinner, but it was essentially the same as the Magino.

And yet they had been easily torn away.

She initially wondered how that was possible, but the answer was obvious. The Hedgehog servant inside her spell circle was bristling its spines as it looked at the Device.

It seemed to be surprised, so…

…''It doesn’t know!!

They knew what had happened, but they did not know how it had happened.

Hunter knew that was a very dangerous situation. Including the fact that she had no countermeasure to take. But…

…''Well, knowing that is enough.

That thought filled her with an odd feeling.

Upon seeing the power of a higher Ranker, she felt something beyond surprise or a threat.

“Not bad.”

She felt impressed.

Mary was puzzled by the casual whistle she heard.

…''What kind of reaction is that?

It was a little difficult to respond to. After all…

“What is with you? And after I went to the trouble of lying in wait for you here.”

“Just out of curiosity, what would you have done if I’d followed the path around instead of cutting through the courtyard?”

“I was tracking your location, so I would have cut you off on the southern edge.”

“I see.” Hunter’s eyes moved to the plastic bag hanging from a branch. “You were out shopping, but you spotted me and decided to pick a fight, huh? I’ll admit that counts as both a coincidence and lying in wait.”

Hunter’s tone continued to confuse Mary.

…''She seems awfully calm.

“I thought you were the type to fill with animosity and charge at me.”

“Oh.” Hunter clapped her hands together as if in understanding. “Were you planning to defeat me when I did in order to get those two worked up against you?”

The comment came with a laugh. Instead of a mocking laugh it was one of true amusement. “Ha ha,” laughed the Special Equipment Division representative as she raised her right hand.

“Then I’m done.”

“You’re done?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Hunter shrugged. “I saw what you’re capable of when you cut my weapon down to size. That’s enough for me.”

“What could you possibly understand from that?”

“I may not understand it, but those two and the people who support me can look into it. The Hedgehog’s got a good memory, you see.”

She spread her mouth horizontally and smiled a little.

“Besides, I gave my Rank to those two. I’m not going to be bait for you, so there’s nothing more for me to do.”

“After how desperate you were to defeat the Black Witch?”

“So you knew about that.”

Mary could only nod.

The Spell Division was linked to the history of witches and few of the witches in it had any attack power to speak of. They primarily followed an older style that turned them into a walking spell book of charms and jinxes from the Middle Ages or earlier.

However, they were second to none in chemical, mineral, environmental, and especially revelation and divination spells.

That was why Mary’s division colleagues used magic to gather information. More than just standalone spells, they would combine their spells with a computer to provide a focal point they could draw the information from.

There were spells to tell you what path to take and spells to tell you who would become your lover, so if you needed to know a specific person’s history or feelings, the Spell Division was where to go.

History was a continuous sequence of information.

Compared to the history of witches, acquiring information on a single person was like collecting a pebble on the roadside. So…

“In that context, I am curious about this change that has come over you.”

“Don’t expect me to say too much. Even I’m confused by some of it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. So how about you-…”

Hunter released her Normal Device.

The ether light scattered faster than Mary’s information had said. Kagami Kagami had absorbed her ether light fragments in their previous battle, so this was likely a countermeasure against that.

That showed she had not lost sight of herself as a Ranker. So…

“—————”

Mary naturally moved right up to Hunter.

It only took two steps.

…''Impossible!

Hunter was honestly shocked.

She used her foothold spell and swing-by method for mobility, but even with bodily reinforcement divine protections…

…''I couldn’t move sixteen meters in a step and a half without a running start!

It would probably take her two and a half steps. The difference in reach was obviously part of it, but that was not all. The bodily reinforcement divine protections were blatantly over the limit. No one would use that much on a daily basis.

''But,'' she thought. ''This is the Rank 2.

As Mary leaped forward while leaning forward, Hunter hurried backwards. If she jumped back before Mary could take the final half step, she could put some distance between them. But…

“No fair!”

A surprise attack reached her. And it was made with the skill of the Rank 2.

But nothing was off limits for witches. They were originally the people who had been shunned after those in power deemed them heretics. There was no such thing as “no fair” here. She could not fight reality.

…''But…!

Hunter knew she was not the best one to say this, but she sensed something similar to herself in Mary.

She could tell this girl had lived a life in which battle was perfectly normal. In other words…

“Do you belong to a combat family or organization!?”

As soon as she asked that, a chilly sensation ran through her side.

She did not think she had been hit. After all, the sensation did not fully reach the skin. Instead she thought, ''Way to go, me.

And while she was at it…

“I can see that!”

Just as her opponent had finished her half step and prepared to take the next step, the girl had launched an attack from midair.

Hunter had seen Mary pull her right hand back.

…''I need to watch out for the tip of that hand!

Spells could be used without summoning a Frame, so was the chill on her side just now the same as what had torn away the tip of the Hedgehog? It did not particularly matter if those were two different things. After all…

…''There!

Hunter attacked.

She was in midair, but she was on the way to landing.

Her opponent would have to stop briefly to take her next step.

Hunter dropped her heel down. She used the landing motion of her back step to place all of her falling weight on her heel.

She did not target her opponent’s approaching hand.

She targeted further up, at the wrist.

“——————”

She hit.

Her heel gouged into her opponent’s right wrist from above. Or she meant to.

…''Oh.

She felt a chill on the back of her dropping right thigh, so…

“…Toh!”

Hunter made a hook with the heel on her opponent’s right wrist and she rotated it backwards.

Mary was impressed.

…''So this is the former Rank 3!

Mary had thrust her right arm forward, but Hunter had stepped on the wrist and launched her entire body backwards. And while spinning around at that.

It was said close-range witches could easily stand on top of a blade during a battle, but Mary had not expected the girl to use her attacking hand as footing during such a high-speed exchange.

She had gotten a blow in on Mary’s arm, and…

…''She made a jump without her foothold spell!

Hunter flew through the air.

The rotating path her body took showed no sign of rushing. To leap as far back and as far away as she could, she made a powerful swing of her lower legs and slid them outwards to spin around.

Plus, she had already taken a fighting stance as she fell and she was aiming to make a counterattack.

“Well done!”

“You too!”

Mary reached the former Rank 3 as soon as the girl landed.

She made a jab.

She launched her right forearm straight ahead.

Her summer sweater’s sleeve could not keep up, so it exposed her arm from wrist to elbow. The black leather glove was carried with enough speed that the outline of the fingernails could be seen.

“—————”

Hunter leaned her body forward as she moved back.

Her raised right elbow attempted to deflect Mary’s right hand.

“…”

But a tremor of apparent hesitation ran through Hunter’s body.

She then made a decision.

She did not block Mary’s right hand.

She still reflected Mary’s arm, but she used the time lag of the tremor to send her guarding arm to the inner side of Mary’s wrist.

…''An excellent decision!

Hunter had not made a mistake.

If her opponent’s right hand was the focal point of her spell…

…''Then blocking her right hand with my arm would be risky!

That would be like blocking a blade with her arm.

''No, I still don’t know what kind of spell it is, but it’s probably dangerous. I mean, some people launch their spells from their hand, but does anyone do it from their wrist? Hm? But that American wrestler witch I fought back in the States did place a cutting spell on the inside of her elbow for a lariat. Well, she did complain that it was an “Axe Bomber” instead of a lariat, but hell if I know what that means.

So when a brief tremor ran through her body, she had used the time lag of shifting to an attack stance in order to adjust the timing of her guard.

She had been in the middle of back stepping, but she had used the momentum of leaning forward to power the blow coming from her right shoulder.

She used her right arm to guard and parry her opponent’s right wrist out to the left.

Then she sent her right fist toward the center of the girl’s (surprisingly large) chest.

That would make for a counterattack.

But…

“————”

She made a change of plans.

She could not make a counterattack. She called off her attack and back stepped away. After all…

…''Not good!

Sensing danger in the Rank 2’s movements, she hurried herself by snapping her entire body backwards.

…''Will I make it in time!?

A second solid sound rang out between them.

Hunter’s body was knocked backwards, but she managed to hit something herself.

A direct kick from Hunter knocked Mary’s left wrist back.

Hunter used the force of the kick to perform another backflip and place her hands on the ground. Her fingers caught at the mold of the central path’s stone pavement and she leaped backwards while regaining control of her position.

…''That was close! What was that!?

While taking her landing position, Hunter felt a mixture of panic and admiration in her heart.

She had definitely almost been hit by some kind of strange attack.

It had not been a jab.

Her opponent had launched a high-speed strike with a long reach.

The danger had come from the tip of the girl’s hand, so Hunter had started by knocking her wrist outwards. Then she had prepared to make a counterattack with her right hand.

Her opponent had done two things in response.

First, Mary sent out her left hand to match Hunter’s counterattack.

It came from further out than Hunter’s counterattack and it was aimed at her face.

Hunter could not see Mary’s left hand because her swinging right forearm was in the way.

…''That means the right is a decoy and the left is the real one!

She did not care.

She only had to instantly lean her body forward toward her opponent’s left side. That would move her face below the left hand targeting it.

Her counterattack would then strike Mary’s solar plexus instead of her chest.

Hunter would completely lose her back stepping movement. She had to fully step forward in order to lean her upper body forward like that.

It was a lot like making a full-body tackle.

After making up her mind, she prepared to take the step. But that was when it happened.

…''Hold on.

Something seemed off about Mary’s left arm.

The left arm seemed positioned to push her opponent’s right hand out of the way, but then its strength vanished.

If that was to push it inwards, Hunter would have understood, but Mary’s arm did not do that. The inner edge of the forearm lost its strength from the tendon and moved away from Hunter.

What was this?

Hunter instinctually understood thanks to her experience in making physical strikes.

When making a high-speed strike, one could not clench their fist before launching it.

One had to relax their hand and arm and build up acceleration by gathering strength starting from the shoulder, the foot, or somewhere else far removed from the point of impact. Only after building up all the acceleration would they clench their fist and make the punch.

So why had Mary relaxed the inner edge of her right arm?

There was only one answer: she was making an instantaneous sweep from outside Hunter’s guard.

Hunter did not know what kind of attack that would be, but…

“The left was the decoy and the right’s the real one!”

In that case, the left jab had been meant to cut off Hunter’s escape by making her lean and step forward.

And the true attack…

…''The sweeping right arm!

Hunter immediately made up her mind: no one was stupid enough to use themselves as a guinea pig here.

So she used her forward-stepping foot that was outside her opponent’s field of vision. She made a kick against Mary’s left wrist.

…''Will I make it!?

Before her opponent’s sweeping right arm could reach her, she bent backwards and flew low through the air.

She leaped.

Hunter knew she had dodged it.

She flipped once and landed in a low stance.

However, Mary leaped after her.

She was fast, but more importantly…

…''What’s with that stance!?

Hunter had just dodged Mary’s sweeping right arm by kicking back off of the girl’s left arm.

Her opponent had just swung her right arm inwards and had her left arm knocked backwards.

In other words, she should have spun a little to the left.

But that was not the case.

Hunter saw Mary’s back.

She had given herself over to the rotation and she used the tornado spin to attack with a right backhand blow.

…''This girl!

Her right hand was no longer making a jab.

The backhand’s trajectory was entirely in the sweeping form.

Her right arm drew a crescent moon-like arc as it flew diagonally downwards.

It was coming, but…

“Wah.”

Hunter saw something scattering to her left.

It was her bangs. They had probably been cut in the previous attack.

A few tufts had been taken out near enough to the base for Hunter to think, ''Hey, wait. If I have to cut it all this short to match, it’ll really make me look like a kid!'' There were no split ends.

Of course, that was not all.

Her uniform had been cut at her right side and left arm.

It was not torn. It was split, as if it had always been like that. And that was despite the Shihouin Academy uniform’s anti-spell defenses.

…''First Horinouchi and now her. Are they confusing stat allocation with judging the intent to kill!?

''But dealing with the crazies is the police’s job. Good luck, America.

So Hunter gave up on her back-stepping. She did move back, but she slid her feet back while on her toes.

“Ha.”

She said it while in the upright stance of American karate.

“Bring it, rookie!”

Mary renewed her opinion of Hunter yet again.

Mary had a high Rank, but that was based on her grades up to this point. Both of them had fought lower Rankers a few times, but they had no experience battling those with similar Ranks.

Hunter had dropped to Rank 4, but that was not due to a lack of skill. She was solidly Rank 3 there. And from what Mary could see…

…''She is incredibly nimble with incredible bursts of strength.

More than once now, she had kicked off Mary’s body to dodge an attack. That was likely only meant for emergencies, but it took a lot of skill to do it on a moment’s notice like that.

And now she prepared a combat pose.

…''Heh.

It made Mary a little happy.

This had strayed from Mary’s initial plans, but Hunter was no longer saying “I’m done”.

Realizing someone was willing to be her opponent erased the “a little” from “a little happy”.

Mary was happy.

She had moved forward, swung her arm, and had it deflected, but she had used the motion of her other arm to spin around and…

“…!”

She moved forward again.

Hunter sped up her own rotation.

…''Spells!

As she quickly exhaled, she applied the foothold spell and some bodily reinforcements. The battle was not giving her a gap long enough to even instantly summon her Normal Frame from her pool of accumulated ether, so she activated the spells in her “standard” state to do as much as she could. But…

“Ohhh!”

She was glad she practiced karate.

This opponent’s attacks were definitely based in sweeping motions.

When making a jab, she most likely activated a cutting spell on the inner edge of her hand’s tip. But once that jab extended far enough and she could sweep inwards with her arm, the cutting edge extended from her wrist to elbow.

It was a scythe.

It was more powerful when sweeping back as if in an embrace than when jabbing outwards.

It was a difficult spell to deal with.

Why would she make a spell that was more powerful and more likely to hit on the way back?

But Hunter’s close-range expertise as a karate user told her how annoying this technique was.

For one thing, she could not guard against it properly.

She could not intercept the jabbing tip and even her defenses would be sliced through once it began its “reaping” motion. The most she could do was knock the jab to the side with her guarding arms or make an attack of her own to knock the wrist or forearm away.

She could move right up to Mary, but then Mary’s arm would sweep in from behind her and it would all be over.

She might be able to get an attack of her own in, but then she would be sliced into as if by an embracing arm.

The difference in damage between their attacks was huge.

''And,'' she continued.

…''Her movements are all so perfect they piss me off!

When it looked like Mary’s long reach would almost mechanically rotate around her body, she would instead make a curving motion. It was like she had made her entire body into a whip.

Plus, even her straight-line attacks like the jabs began by swinging the arm behind her and then launching them up at high speed.

It began with her feet.

She would step with her feet, twist her hips, move her shoulder, and finally swing her arm. Hunter did the same thing, but Mary used her long reach to completely control her entire body and she could link any movement to an attack with her arms. Hunter could not take that lightly.

The acceleration of attacks made with the human body was determined by the number of acceleration points and the muscular strength controlling their reach. Everyone had the same number of joints, so it came down to the quantity and quality of muscles moving those joints.

If Mary could pull off the same speed as Hunter, her extra reach would raise the force behind the blows that much more.

And she was most likely doing just that.

Their speeds were nearly identical.

Hunter took quick steps and her strikes were…

…''Oh, they’re completely straight. Well, I am a karate user.

Her opponent would charge quickly forward and her strikes flew in curving arcs.

They clashed.

Hunter intercepted the surefire blade that Mary could freely send in from outside or straight ahead. She moved back and a squealing noise come from the soles of her shoes as she slid freely along the midair footholds her spell gave her.

“Hey!”

Ether light sparks scattered from the deflected point.

Mary was using a spell too. Just like Hunter, she had lost a chance to summon her Frame.

That made Hunter a little happy. It meant she was not completely at her opponent’s mercy. Of course, that did not mean she completely understood Mary’s attacks or that her uniform was not being sliced apart.

“That really isn’t fair!”

She said it, even if it was a little late.

“Do those two interest you that much!?”

Mary felt happy as the scattering ether light sparks washed over her.

Her opponent had activated some spells even in this rushed battle with no openings.

This was the American representative. Under normal standards, she was the representative of the world’s greatest military force. That was who viewed Mary as a worthy opponent and was currently fighting her.

It was wonderful.

She decided to answer Hunter’s question, although not because of that.

“Yes,” she said. “I must have those two taking this seriously.”

“And so you’re challenging them to a fight!? What are you thinking!?”

“You don’t understand?” Mary had only one thing to say. “I am saying that waiting for allies is nothing more than naïveté.”

Those words brought an immediate change to Hunter’s expression.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but then her eyebrows rose to erase that look.

“—————!!”

Hunter gave up on intercepting.

She kicked off the air in front of Mary and leaped backwards.

…''Is that…?

Mary was curious about the girl’s actions and the brief change to her expression. It had almost looked like the girl had been angered by her words.

“…”

Mary watched as Hunter created three footholds in midair and flipped backwards.

With some distance between them, she landed and resumed her fighting stance.

Her eyebrows were raised and her teeth bared.

“Come on out, Normal Frame!”

With a brief mechanical roar, witch clothing covered Hunter’s body.

When the completed shield spear appeared by her left arm, its tip had been repaired.

She held that weapon at the ready.

“Becoming Rank 2 doesn’t sound too bad!”

Mary smiled.

…''She has excellent ether control.

She was entirely serious. A witch’s version of serious. Mary could sense her anger. And in this world, it was emotion that heated up a Phlogiston Heart.

Her anger made her into a witch.

That furious emotion was wonderful. If one raged and raged and raged, they could change the world. But…

…''But!

Mary raised her voice as she charged forward.

“Ira! Summon!”

Hunter saw Mary summon her Frame. But…

“What!?”

The tall figure charging toward her wore black.

Each part was shaped like a crescent moon and yet had a solid presence. The black hat and black cloak had color running through them like red blood vessels.

…''Executioner-style!!

That combat style was also known as Grim Reaper-style.

It had its origins in the Middle Ages, making it quite old. It predated the witch hunts. It was also associated with war and pestilence, so Hunter, who was raised in America, had never seen it before.

[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_145.png|thumb]]

Mary held a triple scythe in her right hand. It looked like a gun at first because three similarly-shaped long scythes were lined up alongside each other and they seemed to extend the silhouette of Mary’s long arm even further.

But that was not all.

Hunter saw something behind Mary and it very much resembled the Device the girl held.

However, it was far larger and the long scythes were arranged in a circle as if to pierce the heavens.

“A Magino Device!?”

''This is bad,'' thought Hunter.

The constant surprises brought by this opponent reminded her of something she had experienced quite recently. ''Oh, she’s just like that idiot Kagami.'' Idiots who readily broke the rules could create shocked openings in normal people.

That was the case here.

…''What is this!?

“You directly summoned the Magino Frame!? What happened to heating up your Phlogiston Heart!?”

“You don’t get it?” asked Mary. “I am always serious.”

…''That’s not an answer!!

Since Hunter still sort of understood what she meant, it likely had to do with the Phlogiston Heart.

That said, the enemy was already closing the distance between them. She may have ignored the Normal-to-Magino step, but Hunter could instantly summon hers too if she followed that step. So she corrected her stance.

“—————”

She regulated her breathing, prepared to take a step back, and then noticed something.

…''The ground behind me.

It was torn apart.

There was a meter wide gouge that continued for a few hundred meters.

Its depth varied from five meters to deep enough to see the ocean below the artificial island.

Hunter knew what had happened.

…''A Magino Frame attack!!

Most likely, it had only missed because she had regulated her breathing before moving back. If she had immediately moved back, that would have been the end of it.

By the time she thought “not bad”, Mary was already right in front of her.

Hunter had no ground to step on behind her, but…

“Foothold!”

As soon as she started her step, light dropped from the sky.

It was a Magino Frame secondary cannon and it fell between her and her enemy.

“…!”

It exploded and she was thrown into the air.

…''I will not let you escape!

Mary did not hold back.

She knew this was when she had to settle the match.

She had created an opening by showing what she could do and she would not get an opening like this again. So…

“Here I go!”

She neatly guided the secondary cannon blast. Ira, her Magino Frame, had some weaknesses with this method of attack, but she was making up for those here. The impact sent her opponent into the air and the blast’s scattered ether would interfere with the creation of any new spells, preventing the girl from using her foothold spell. But…

…''Reach her!

Mary was acting under the same conditions.

That secondary cannon was meant for use on Magino Frames, so the scattering ether fragments would prevent her from using her anti-personnel spells as well.

However, she could use the ones meant for herself.

So she used an acceleration spell, caught up to her opponent without losing any momentum, and struck with her blade at close range.

“Macabre!”

She summoned her own servant into a spell circle. It was known as the Grim Reaper type, but she thought the yellow eyes inside the hood were full of emotion and quite cute. But for now…

“Divine protection!”

When she yelled that, the servant raised its scythe and placed an attack spell on her blade. And that blade was the executioner’s scythe.

If the divine protection was placed on the blade itself, the scythe would act as the core and the scattering ether meant nothing. She could not fire it very far, but it was more than enough for a flesh-and-blood opponent.

And…

“Reach her!”

The high-speed strike reached the girl.

Mary felt clear tactile feedback as a physical blow that returned to her hands.

Hunter was working to control her foothold spell.

She could not get it active on the bottom of her feet in time. That was partially due to the secondary cannon having been fired there. So…

…''My hands!

If she opened a foothold spell on each palm, even an idiot could push off of empty air. And she only needed a small push, so the ether disturbance did not matter.

However, she was worried about one thing.

…''She’s fast and tall!

Mary had abnormal speed and reach.

Hunter suddenly realized that was two things she was worried about. Well, mistakes like that happened all the time.

Would those things let Mary reach her or could she avoid her?

“Ohhh!”

As soon as she decided it was a gamble, something shot in between the two of them.

At first it looked like a shield, but a closer look showed it was a sword. And…

“Kagami!”

Kagami blocked Mary’s attack with her Normal Frame.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 23

2016-03-23T05:29:35Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 23: Our Reason */ small addition

==Chapter 23: Our Reason==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0811.png|thumb]]
''Oh, how spoiled I am

''To get to run to that precious person’s heart

''Oh, how spoiled I am

''To have that precious person run to my heart

Below the cloudy night was a city filled with light.

Two pairs of eyes viewed that Tokyo nightscape from a distant, elevated place.

They were watching from a raised part of Okutama’s mountains.

Two old men stood on that dark field. One was short and the other was tall and bald.

The short one looked to the other one.

“Hey, Siegfried. 1st-Gear’s out there, aren’t they? You get going, too.”

“How about you go, Hiba Ryuutetsu? Isn’t your grandson out there?”

“That idiot Ryuuji will be fine. He won’t die so easily.”

Ryuutetsu let out a white sigh.

“I hear things have gotten complicated in there.”

“Yes, I heard from Diana. She said Sayama needs to run.”

“And you don’t feel like helping him?”

“What about you?” shot back Siegfried.

The two of them continued viewing the night’s landscape.

“Well, he’ll probably manage somehow or another. Kaoru may not be around anymore, but…”

“But that Sayama has definitely inherited the villain’s surname.”

Siegfried suddenly started forward toward the base, where he would no longer be able to see the city.

Ryuutetsu frowned behind him.

“Hold on. The world might be destroyed and you aren’t even going to watch it?”

“This fight has been left to the next generation. And Sayama has started to run, hasn’t he? That may be the destiny of his surname. To run, to struggle, to grab at something…but to only reveal your true self to the one you care for most.”

Siegfried looked up into the sky and his voice rang through the winter night.

“He is running toward the one to which he can entrust his true self. Kaoru and Asagi both failed and did not arrive in time, but the current Sayama will run enough for all three of them.”

Sayama ran through Tokyo’s night.

He had started southeast of Shinjuku, in the space between Minato and Koutou.

Inside the concept space, the eight pieces of the battlefield had been placed spatially in a line. If Sayama passed through them all, the land would return to its original layout.

That meant he had to start on Tokyo Bay’s coast and make a full circuit of Tokyo with Shinjuku in the center.

He was currently in the southeast of the fourth region. If Tokyo was viewed as a clock with Shinjuku in the center, he was around 4:30.

If he moved clockwise from there, he would start by heading southwest.

Region 5: South. Meguro.

Region 6: Southwest. Setagaya.

After running through there…

Region 7: West. Suginami.

As he took Circular Route 7 north from there, he would see Shinjuku to his right.

Region 8: Northwest. Nerima.

Region 1: North. Kita.

There, he would leave Circular Route 7 and start down the Nakasendo.

Region 2: Northeast. Arakawa.

Region 3: East. Sumida.

From there, he would be back where he had started.

It was a clockwise route in reality, but it was currently a straight shot.

It was approximately fifty kilometers in all.

Sayama sped up and checked his watch.

The current time was 9:48 PM. The positive concepts inside the Leviathan would be complete at 10:30.

He still needed a few minutes to reach the Leviathan after making it back to his original spot and he needed another sixteen minutes for the seals of heaven and earth. Which meant…

…''I want to reach Shinjou-kun by at least 10:10.

He had twenty-two minutes until 10:10. To cover fifty kilometers in that time, he needed an average speed of greater than 110 kph.

As soon as he had finished that calculation, Mikoku’s voice reached him via Noah in the sky.

“Doesn’t it seem hopeless? It would be a lot easier to let the entire world be resurrected. In fact, if you have no possible way of arriving in time, then giving up would be the sensible thing to do.”

“I see.”

''A decent suggestion,'' he concluded.

But he reached into his pocket as he continued to run.

The others running alongside him gave him concerned looks as he continued speaking.

“That is a decent suggestion. A wonderful suggestion even. But I have an even better idea.”

Which was…

“I will complete this run and make you cry.”

“Make me cry?”

“Do not get upset yet. I have not finished explaining my idea. …Are you listening?”

He pulled his hand from his pocket, revealing a bundle of acceleration charms.

“I will not just make you cry. I will hit you, and hit you, and hit you some more. And only after I have made you bow down to the entire world, will I fill your eyes with tears. The crime of placing physical distance between Shinjou-kun and me deserves more than the death penalty. …It deserves the super death penalty.”

“You! Do you really think you can do that!? Do you really think you can run faster than one hundred kph, break through the attacks of my heavenly host, and reach the Leviathan!?”

“No one would ever think I could not!!” roared Sayama before laughing and crouching down. “I am the ruler of this world! The entire world wishes for my victory!! And…”

He activated the acceleration charms.

They opened behind his shoulders and legs, producing a blue light.

“Shinjou-kun is waiting and she is even more important than the world to me! I! ''I!'' '''I''' cannot possibly lose to something as trivial as an attempted change to the world!!”

…''Yes, I cannot possibly lose!!

The speed arrived along with that thought.

The first step created an explosion of water vapor on the road’s surface.

“You!”

He ignored Mikoku’s words while gaining the speed of flight.

“You dare belittle the world!?”

He moved forward.

“Yes! The world is a little thing. But it is mine, so I will not let you have it. I am not leasing it out and I am not accepting loans! In fact, I cannot imagine why you want something so boring!”

He almost seemed to fly.

“After all, a world without any trace of ourselves would only be a blank slate! It would be no more valuable than an untouched canvas, null data, or an empty notebook! If any world is important…”

He tore through the wind.

“Then it is the world on which I and those with me have left our mark!!”

He pumped his arms.

“And if you will get in the way of that, I will make you cry! I will preserve this world and, while I am at it, I feel like declaring next year the first year of the St. Sayama Era and producing a calendar with twelve different photos of Shinjou-kun!”

He ran and he heard a voice from directly ahead.

“Fine then.”

“You agree I should make the calendar!? Then I will make sure to send you a copy!”

“Not that! I was complimenting your resolve!”

Mikoku’s words were accompanied by the appearance of white figures on the road ahead.

They were automatons, but they were Arch models, not the Angelus models.

“Our gatekeepers provide a harsh greeting!”

There were several dozen of them. They appeared with instantaneous acceleration and gravity already shimmered in front of their hands.

It only took them a moment.

“We will show you just how harsh it is! Over!”

Several of them charged toward him with the tremendous acceleration of their relative speeds.

Sayama did not hesitate; he raised his left fist as he ran.

That was when something unexpected happened. The automatons in front of him suddenly twisted apart in midair.

…''What was that?

His surprised thoughts soon found the answer.

A man wearing black cut in up ahead.

The automatons took defensive stances.

“How crass!”

“If battle is crass, then my continent’s culture is the crassest in history!”

With those words, some people appeared from behind Sayama.

They were those who had been running with him, but the man in black ran up ahead of them all.

“I am Chinese UCAT Representative Chao Yu. I shall protect you until you leave Region 4!”

They passed Sayama and ran up ahead.

With the exception of the man named Chao, the fighters in white armored uniforms all had acceleration charms flying around them.

And there were many more than were around Sayama.

“Your bodies will not last if you use them like that!”

They replied to Sayama’s voice with smiles.

“This is the best we can do.”

“Yes.” Chao looked back toward Sayama. “That was quite the selfish speech earlier!”

But…

“But if the world is currently subject to such great influence, then it must be small indeed!! If every one of our actions can decide the course of the world, then this is precisely what my continent desires!!”

They picked up speed.

“We hold the world in our hands!!”

“Right!!”

The others raised their arms, lined up charms between their hands like cards, and activated them.

“Go get them!!”

With Chao Yu in the lead, they grew too fast to see and charged toward the Arch automatons.

They bet their own bodies on this simplistic and one-time-only acceleration.

They were not trying to win. They were only trying to…

“Slam into them!!”

That was exactly what happened.

In the instant before impact, they removed the 4th-Gear creatures on their backs.

The plant creatures landed and watched them leave.

“Good luck,” said the creatures.

The fighters responded with smiles and completed their charge.

The Arch automatons had the pure reaction speed necessary, but the collision happened while they were still trying to decide what to do.

With a solid sound of impact, bones broke and armor split.

But the men continued on to more and more collisions.

Chao Yu began to spin in the lead.

He seemed to create a whirlwind with his body and every automaton he touched was thrown into the air.

When the dolls slammed into the ground, they were unable to react to the spiral movement and they were broken to pieces.

“We’ll clear the way!”

But just as the last of the men collided with the last few automatons, some giant forms dropped down from the sky.

They were gods of war. A great rumble filled the asphalt as three Powers gods of war landed.

The giants quickly prepared to fight.

“Did you think you could break through with speed!?” they asked.

“Then we will show you our strength!”

Still in the lead, Chao Yu swung his arms while spinning.

“Chinese UCAT Bicycle Unit!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

Voices and wind lined up on either side of him.

They came from bicycles and people.

Two men in green armored uniforms were driving a bicycle each.

Both of them had a vertical stack of five men standing on their shoulders. This created a ten meter tower of men.

Up ahead, Chao made a leap with an acceleration charm in his mouth.

“We use the human body as strength and history as our will! We use the human body to feel no fear of battle and therein lies the foundation of our resolve!”

The men on the bicycles shouted in agreement and they all angled themselves on the shoulders of the one below them to look back toward Sayama.

“Fear not, boy! We will show you that nothing is impossible for mankind!”

They all activated the gravitational control charms in their hands.

The charms allowed them to use empty air like solid ground and Chao Yu was the first to begin running through midair.

At the same time, the bicycles began to rise and pick up speed.

Everyone on those accelerating bicycles could use the empty air as the ground.

“————!”

They slipped past the swords of the gods of war and the two towers of five people ran forward through the air.

Their outstretched fists performed powerful stomps in empty air.

“Shake!!”

With that word, Sayama saw the two bicycles pass between the legs of two of the three gods of war.

At the same time, a five-man strike slammed into the gods of war down their central line.

An intense sound rang out and the gods of war were destroyed.

Their pure white armor seemed to burst into sand, but they managed to remain standing.

“Go, boy!!”

The bicycles made a breaking turn and knocked the feet out from under the machines.

The angel gods of war were going to fall. Human strength had broken them and pulled them down to earth.

After destroying one of them on his own, Chao shouted back toward Sayama.

“You have my word! We cannot be heroes! But…”

Sayama faced forward and saw the man accelerate.

“I promise you we will clear the way for you!!”

“Testament!!”

“You have my thanks!!”

Sayama shouted to the comrades who remained with him and he accelerated.

As he ran, his watch had reached 9:52.

He had eighteen minutes left and seven regions to go. He was now entering Kazami’s Region 5.

But the enemy was flying through the sky.

They were the Prince automatons who fired projectiles instead of making direct attacks.

…''Here they come!

An incredible number of white beams swept through the streets and raced toward him.

Sayama responded by speeding up.

He added on more charms and charged toward the hundreds of overlapping and intersecting beams of light.

He could see a group of Angelus automatons beyond those beams, but…

“Don’t panic! You still have plenty of ground to cover, don’t you?”

Just as he wondered who this was, a military jeep drove up alongside him.

It bounced along the torn-up road as it did.

“Jord!?”

Mikoku’s voice reached them from the Leviathan.

“What are you doing here!?”

“Don’t be silly. It’s true I sympathized with you a little when you said you were brining Shino back to life. Shino was a good girl and she made me food. She was a good girl and never stopped being a good girl. I can understand why you’d want to bring her back. But…”

She swung her arms, pulled heavy machineguns from her sleeves, and aimed them into the sky.

“But I never asked you to bring the whole world back to life.”

Sayama watched as Jord stepped on the accelerator.

She charged through the cannon fire pouring from the sky.

But none of it hit her. It grazed her and tore into the jeep, but it never actually hit her.

“If you did that and brought everyone back…”

Jord fired. The gunfire rang out and cleared a path in the sky.

“That’d be returning the world to my original expectations!!”

The light from the sky tore into the jeep and it rolled onto its side.

But Jord jumped out.

She landed, rolled once, and fired her twin heavy machineguns into the sky from below the downpour of light.

“Have a taste of a real god’s bullets!! And…”

As she scattered gunfire into the heavens, the corner of her mouth rose in a smile.

“You’re Sayama, right? Are you a good boy?”

“Of course!”

As he passed her by, he recalled the past and held his chest.

“My parents always said so!!”

“Then I’ll help you out. …1st-Gear, you will too, won’t you!?”

At that moment, Sayama entered Brunhild’s Region 6.

A group of Angelus automatons had formed a solid wall up ahead, but…

“!?”

The winged ranks were blown away from below.

The wave-like blast spread and destroyed them in an instant.

There was a single cause: large shadows had suddenly appeared below their feet.

…''Half-dragons!

“Did you come to help me, 1st-Gear!?”

“Exactly!”

All of the shadows stood up at once.

“1st-Gear’s half-dragon unit is here! I am Fafner, their representative member!!”

The wingless half-dragon explained what he had done to the angels’ attack.

“Light-bringing wings also bring shadow. Nothing could be more perfect for those of us with shadow-walking techniques!!”

The half-dragons moved from shadow to shadow, making sudden appearances to fell their enemy. They then raised a hand, beckoning Sayama over.

“Open the way! Our negotiator is coming through!”

The enemy group was thick, but…

“Open the way!!”

Fafner’s group carried out their orders while taking sword strikes and cannon blasts.

They cut through their foes with giant swords while taking powerful impacts to secure a central path.

“Bear with it! After all, this negotiator is the one who gave honor to Venerable Hagen!!”

With those words, they achieved a brief victory.

A path opened.

The way forward was clear.

Sayama ran through that passable space. He raced on through.

…''Thank you.

He understood that everyone was responding to his serious side.

Shinjou had taught him that. If he was serious, then everyone would follow him.

''In that case,'' he thought. ''If they will respond to what little seriousness I have shown…

…''Can I trust that I will find something else like this later on?

He did trust in that fact.

And so he ran toward Shinjou who had given him that trust.

After passing the half-dragons, the dolls continued to push toward him as if collapsing down on him, but…

“Go! You haven’t even made it halfway yet!”

He heard Fafner’s group fighting behind him and he heard Jord’s voice from even further back.

“Tatsumi! Alex! Can you hear me!?”

Inside the concept space set up at Tokyo Bay’s wharf, the Top-Gear forces heard Jord’s voice over a communicator.

“How long are you going to sit there!?”

They were all sitting down, but Alex towered above them and Tatsumi sat beside him.

Tatsumi held a knife’s grip in her trembling hand and she stared blankly up at the ceiling.

“I know you’re on Mikoku’s side. But! If you won’t stop what she’s doing now, are you really her ally!?”

Tatsumi suddenly opened her mouth.

“Did you think I didn’t already know that?” she asked. “But I have no reason to stop her.”

She raised the shaking knife in her hand but dropped it.

The metal produced a sharp noise when it hit the concrete floor.

The noise continued on like a tremor, but Tatsumi did not even look down at it.

“I don’t have any strength left. What could I even do?”

She pressed her forehead against Alex.

And she stopped moving.

But she was listening to the sounds of battle coming from the communicator.

Everyone was trying to send a certain boy, one of those she had treated as an enemy, to Mikoku.

…''What are we supposed to do?

“Mikoku only has Noah. And…she’s supported by her feelings for Shino. If we turned against her, she’d be all alone.”

“Tatsumi,” said Alex. “I must take issue with part of that.”

“Wh-what part?”

“Mikoku is not alone.”

“Eh?”

Tatsumi’s eyes opened wide and Alex clarified.

“That boy named Sayama said that Mikoku is another version of ourselves.”

“D-doesn’t that just mean she has enemies?”

“No,” replied Alex. “Tatsumi, was the boy named Hiba Ryuuji nothing more than an enemy to you? Was he an enemy you could never understand and who you had to reject? Also…”

After pausing to think, he asked a question.

“Did you cry when he rejected you?”

“————”

Tatsumi was dumbfounded, so Alex said even more.

“Now, what do you think, Tatsumi? Is Mikoku alone? Or does she stand on a battlefield where no one can reject her? Which is it? And…”

He asked another question.

“Aren’t you rejecting her now?”

That question was followed by a voice. It was Mikoku’s coming from the communicator.

“What is the matter, Sayama? It seems you have passed the midpoint, but you are running a little behind.”

The girl’s provocation was belied by the weakness in her voice.

“You do seem to be enjoying yourself with your comrades assisting you, but you are not going to make it in time at this rate.”

A certain will responded to Mikoku.

But it did not come from Sayama as he ran. It came from Shinjou, far below Mikoku.

“That isn’t true!! He’ll definitely make it in time!!”

With the others around her, Shinjou checked her watch while firing Ex-St at the flying enemies.

It was precisely ten o’clock.

Sayama had passed through Region 7 and was about to pass though Region 8. That was the midpoint of his journey.

…''He will make it, won’t he?

She looked back and saw the distant concentration of cannon fire and explosions that indicated his location.

He was approaching at full speed.

But it was true he had used up twelve of his twenty-two minutes on reaching the midpoint.

He was about one minute slow. Even if she assumed he had needed to pick up some speed at the beginning, he did seem to be running behind.

But even so…

“He’ll definitely make it in time!!”

“How!?”

Mikoku’s question reached her from atop the Leviathan’s head.

She stood there in her black armored uniform and seemed directly overhead despite the great distance between them.

“How can you be so sure!?”

“Because…”

…''That’s obvious!

Shinjou continued firing and felt heat on her cheeks from the surrounding burning buildings.

“If he isn’t going to make it in time, he’ll find a way to make it!!”

She knew everyone had to be thinking the same thing.

“Even if he isn’t going to make it, he won’t give up! If he isn’t going to make it, he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he makes it! …Did you know this!?”

After grabbing Ex-St’s overheated barrel and tossing it aside, Shinjou spread her hands.

She raised those hands toward the Leviathan.

“The character for ‘struggle’ is supposed to look like someone pushing back up against a great pressure bearing down on them! And the word ‘resistance’ adds the character for ‘low’ to it because you have to be down low to put up a resistance!!”

“Then!” Mikoku seemed to be testing her. “Can you truly put up a resistance against my efforts to keep him away and against the almighty power at my disposal!?”

With her voice as the command, the ring of angels around the Leviathan began to shake.

They were coming. With the gods of war and mechanical dragons in the center, the great army of angels was approaching.

“Shinjou, if you are what Sayama desires, then you are the same as him.”

“Eh!?”

Shinjou carelessly dropped the new barrel she was trying to attach to Ex-St.

“I-I’m not that weird! I’m not like him!”

A moment later, her cellphone rang in her pocket.

She answered it and heard that weird boy’s voice with cannon fire in the background.

“Hello, Shinjou-kun. Bonjour. …Now, my heart was feeling a little lonely as I ran, so I am making various phone calls to harass people and cheer me up.”

“Can I just hang up?”

“You do love saying the opposite of what you really think, don’t you!?”

She seriously considered hanging up.

…''But he must be having a hard time. Maybe I should actually speak with him.

“So what do you need? I’m kind of busy right now.”

“I imagine you are,” he agreed. “I am about to build a virtual Shinjou-kun in my mind and create a number of imaginary derivative works as I make my way there. So might I have the rights to your likeness?”

She hung up.

She exhaled, lowered her head a bit, lifted her gaze, and looked all the way up to the Leviathan.

“Th-that doesn’t count. It doesn’t, okay?”

“What doesn’t?” Mikoku sighed. “Regardless, it is already too late. If you claim you can make it in time or fight back, then show me, old world!”

With those words, Shinjou felt a wind from directly ahead.

It was the wind of pure-white gods of war charging forward as if sliding along at low altitude.

The air shook and about a dozen of them approached.

“Kh…”

She felt their intimidating presence.

A god of war’s size alone provided strength. If a dozen of them used their wings to rush in with swords and shields at the ready, it would form an even nastier attack than any kind of shell.

The 3rd-Gear forces could oppose them, but they were in Region 1. That was too far away from here.

Shinjou’s group would have to fight them on their own, so she shouted to the others.

“Fall back!”

She attached Ex-St’s barrel and raised the weapon.

“————!!”

In that instant, the wind of giants flowed forward on either side of her.

…''Eh?

She looked up and saw silver gods of war. These steel gods of war were equipped with shields and spears.

She did not recognize them, but their shields bore the French flag.

The one to her right seemed to be the commander and it turned back toward her.

“I apologize for our delay, but our air transport was slow. …French UCAT’s god of war battalion will now join the battle.”

The wind whipped up as the silver gods of war opened the three wing-shaped thrusters on their backs.

“Everyone, we have three minutes and twenty-seven seconds of flight time. Do not actually fly. The enemy will come to strike us on the ground. We will stick to Battle Scenario 3. Use your wings to accelerate and never stop moving.”

A bitter laugh rang out.

“We were hoping to surprise Germany, Japan, and the US, but we never thought our first battle would be enough to surprise the entire world.”

“That’s right,” replied a female voice. “Make sure to gather plenty of enemy heads.”

“Ready your spears!!”

They raised their spears while facing forward.

“Local commander, give us our orders!!”

Shinjou realized they meant her.

“U-um…”

She panicked, but managed to breathe out and raise Ex-St.

She aimed the cannon toward the flying gods of war.

“Charge!!”

Just as the white light of her blast tore through a god of war, the silver armored warriors accelerated.

Noah maintained a constant understanding of the battle.

She checked the situation in each location as well as the transparent map of Tokyo displayed on the Leviathan’s head.

“Mikoku-sama, there is one thing I do not understand.”

The enemy’s numbers were definitely being worn down. The same was true of the angels. The ratio between armies remained largely unchanged. Even with the enemy reinforcements, she had sent a third army to deal with that second enemy army. And yet…

“Where do the enemy’s sudden bursts of strength come from? Over.”

When she looked through the wind of their high altitude, Noah saw something unexpected.

Mikoku gave a certain expression in front of the transparent map.

…''A bitter smile?

She did not know. No, she did think she knew.

She remembered.

'''“Before” June 21, 1989

The expression on her creator’s face was a smile, yet Noah could not understand it.

'''“Before” March 20, 1993

Noah gained a single joy.

The concept creation facility was remade and the negative concepts were to be created.

'''“Before” March 20, 1993

Noah once more saw the indecipherable smile on her creator’s face.

'''“Before” March 20, 1993

Noah asked her creator what that smile meant.

Her creator replied thusly:

“Oh… Sorry about that. It isn’t a bad thing. It’s something of a habit.”

'''December 25, 2005

Mikoku made the same smile.

So Noah asked a question.

“What does that smile mean? Over.”

Mikoku brought a hand to her face and seemed to hold her mouth.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said. “It is not a bad thing. It is something of a habit I have picked up recently.”

Noah did not understand, but she concluded that must be what it was.

That smile was not a bad thing, but it required an apology.

After leaving her understanding and investigation there, she asked something else. She repeated a question Mikoku had not heard because she was lost in thought.

“Mikoku-sama, give me my orders. Order me to suppress the enemy. Over.”

“Yes.” Mikoku looked down below. “What time is it?”

“It is 10:06 PM. Over.”

“And where is Sayama?”

As soon as Mikoku asked, the two of them saw pillars of light falling through the gaps in the cloudy sky.

More and more hammers of light pounded on the ground.

“Is that…?”

“That is from Region 2 in the northeast! That must be the Heavenly Moon Bow, so is 2nd-Gear there!?”

At some point, Sayama had advanced into the last two regions.

“Noah!”

Noah listened to Mikoku’s shout.

“How much power do you have in reserve!?”

Sayama ran.

The older members of 2nd-Gear had just helped him and he was moving into the neighboring Region 3.

The current time was 10:08. He had two minutes left.

If he was going to make it, it would only be just barely.

He knew he had to hurry.

…''There is nothing to worry about.

He felt inexplicable confidence.

Then he realized that water vapor was trailing from different parts of his body.

Mukiti’s wooden sword was producing a cloud of water vapor from where he had placed it on the back of his waist.

As he continued onward, he produced a contrail along the ground.

He raced forward.

He was almost flying as he followed his straight-line path.

Tsukuyomi’s Heavenly Moon Bow was tearing into the airborne enemies from the side.

His feet took him into Region 3. This was the final region.

Mukiti was refreshing most of his exhaustion, but that did not mean he was not at all exhausted.

If Mukiti went all out, Sayama’s body would lose all of its heat and freeze.

Also, he needed a certain level of body heat to run.

If he could not keep his blood pumping, he could not run.

To keep that blood flowing, Mukiti was taking heat with extreme caution.

But some remained. He was far better off than if he had run fifty kilometers at over one hundred kph with no preparation whatsoever, but he did feel some exhaustion.

He was sweating, he was out of breath, and his body was stiff.

He dodged enemy attacks as he ran with such great speed. When he noticed how torn up the road surface was, his pulse started racing and he felt something bitter in the bottom of his stomach.

Mukiti forcibly took those things away, but they remained in his heart.

He had felt this bitterness several times on the way here.

''And,'' he thought. ''I would not feel this bitterness if I did not run.

…''Yes.

Wherever he ran, the others would gather and be injured.

If he did not run, none of the others would be injured.

Wasn’t he simply causing trouble for the others in his conceited villain act?

…''What am I doing here?

Amid this great battle, he alone ran and he alone thought.

It was true he had no time, but he ignored that and ran.

…''What am I doing?

He had two minutes left and seven kilometers to go.

At 110 kph, he could only travel about 3.7 kilometers in two minutes.

It was obvious he would not make it.

And yet he was running.

Shinjou was waiting for him.

Why was he running and why was she waiting? It was so blatantly hopeless.

He felt it was all ridiculous.

He also thought he should just quit.

He felt it would all be so much easier if he gave up.

But a sudden opening appeared before him.

The road was completely empty.

That was the result of Heo and American UCAT’s fight in Region 3.

They had pushed their front line so far forward that both enemy and ally had vanished from the road.

This place was his and his alone.

There was nothing there. Only the transparent night sky, the air, the earth, and the unseen way ahead.

“————”

He suddenly felt as if only he were here.

Only that which was inside him existed at the moment.

His pulse.

His energy.

His mind.

His feelings.

His will.

His movement.

There was no other noise in the space ahead to interfere with the glorious song those things produced.

His whole body was here and he could feel his nerves reaching all the way to his extremities.

Speed more sharply grasped him.

He was the only thing here. And the awareness of himself this place gave him allowed him to realize something.

He realized what beyond himself he wanted the most.

He thought of that person.

“———!!”

And he came to his senses.

He faced forward and found the battlefield he needed to run across.

He had this entire space to himself and there was no one but him here.

No one would see what he did here.

He could stop running if he wanted.

But…

“—————!!”

He activated charms behind him.

He split the wind.

He continued forward.

With this full power sprint, he used this moment when no one was watching to produce his greatest speed yet.

He ran and he knew exactly why he was running.

“Shinjou-kun!!” he shouted. “I want to see you as soon as possible!”

“Then this is the end, Sayama Mikoto!!”

Mikoku swung her arm on top of the Leviathan.

“How will you overcome this greatest of reasons to give up!?”

At the same time, Noah swung her arm in the same way.

The Leviathan moved. Specifically, one of the five meter caliber secondary cannons on its side did.

“Fire! Over!”

White light pierced into the earth.

The blast would annihilate everything over a diameter of five hundred meters.

That area happened to be the empty space through which Sayama was running.

Sayama sped up.

The cannon of light landed after being fired from the western sky to his right.

The explosive blast rushed toward him.

But he did not give up. He kept running as if to escape the blast.

''Hurry. Hurry,'' he told himself twice to push himself even faster.

His footsteps rang loud and his speed transformed his surroundings into a blur.

''I can make it,'' he told himself.

''Think.

''There has to be a way to make it.

''Build your confidence by thinking through each and every reason why I am sure to make it.

''Yes.

''For example, I am smart.

''I am decently athletic.

''I am a skilled orator and I know how to grasp the human heart.

''My heart is pure. After all, I am someone Shinjou-kun chose to spend her time with.

''And if my heart is pure, then my looks and body must share that pure beauty.

''I can confidently pose in front of the bathroom mirror each morning.

''Yes, if no one had seen me as that lecherous old man’s grandson, I would have lived a very different life.

''I would have become an art model and revolutionized the history of the world’s art.

''Yes, I may have a reserved personality with no hint of megalomania, but the world’s artists and sculptors would have transformed me into art and the world would have been filled with me.

''The world’s parks would have been overflowing with statues of me.

''I would have conquered that peeing boy and led to a handsome peeing boy or handsome peeing man based on me.

''No, the word “peeing” must not be in the title. That would be horrendously inappropriate! The title would be the Handsome Boy or the Handsome Man which would of course be me.

''But as a fountain, I would certainly have to keep the action intact. Perhaps setting it up to produce a rainbow would be best.

''I bet it would shock everyone if the water started coming from the mouth at night.

''And what pose should the statue make? Like this? Or this? No, like this! I could place my hands on my hips and lean back a bit or maybe place my hands behind my head and thrust the important part forward. The pedestal would need to be engraved with a quote of mine. Maybe “Ah, Sh-Shinjou-kun! Look, look!!” would be best. Building those around the world would certainly be a magnificent project.

''Oh, what a wonderful future it would be if Shinjou-kun and I could have a picnic in front of one of my long-distance firing statues.

…''Oh? There is an explosion to the right.

“————!!”

Sayama confirmed his own perfection as he ran.

Pursued by the shockwave, he launched himself further forward.

At the same time, he saw something reaching the empty manmade field up ahead.

“Now you get here!?”

A moment later, the explosive blast enveloped the area.

Shinjou saw a great explosion of light swallow up the area to her north.

The wind blew and the sky was filled with trees and manmade objects.

The wind was powerful enough for the surrounding angels and gods of war to stir.

A roar filled the sky and the winged group there was washed away.

Shinjou’s watch said they had one minute left.

If he had been on his way, he would have been right where that light had been.

“Sayama-kun!”

She then heard a voice. Naturally, it was not Sayama’s.

“Well, Shinjou!? How does it feel to know Sayama was just blown away!?”

But Shinjou had a question about Mikoku’s voice.

…''Eh?

Her tone was forceful, but her voice felt somehow weak.

…''Why?

Only then did Shinjou realize the answer: that girl was losing something.

“Mikoku-san…”

She represented emotion. She was trying to grant the desire of all the entire world’s emotions.

But at the same time…

“Is it sad to lose something? Even if they’re an enemy and even if winning means you can revive the world, do you not want to lose anything!?”

Shinjou asked her question of the windy sky. She spoke to Mikoku who was protected by the angels.

“Do you…not want to lose this world!?”

And…

“Is it because you don’t want to lose it that you’re going to make sure it is lost and then create a world with no more death!?”

“Shinjou.”

She received a response.

“Do not say that. …You will dull my resolve.”

And…

“All I can do is move my emotions. …Even when it comes to you.”

Something arrived through the raging wind.

It was a great dragon wrapped in flames. It was a six-winged Seraph mechanical dragon.

It passed over the heads of the French UCAT gods of war.

“Dammit!!”

The gods of war cried out as the mechanical dragon flew above Shinjou. Its fire-breathing mouth was opened and its blazing main cannon was already ready to fire.

“Shinjou.”

The dragon spoke with Mikoku’s voice as it glared at her in warning.

“Sayama is waiting for you.”

The mouth opened. The flames of the main cannon were coming.

But Shinjou breathed in.

“No.”

…''There’s no way Sayama-kun is waiting for me!

Thirty meters above her, she saw the conflagration building.

“I’m the one waiting for him!”

A moment later, the Seraph mechanical dragon exploded.

It had not been hit by a cannon blast or a sword strike.

“Eh?”

Confused, Shinjou saw flames surging around the explosive noise.

With serpentine movements, massive flames wrapped around and burned the dragon.

And below that dragon-shaped torch, Shinjou lowered her head.

On the asphalt ground, she saw sand and stones.

Those minerals were moving.

“Do not worry.”

It was Wanambi.

The mechanical dragon was entirely reduced to ash and a dragon of blazing heat was created in its place. This dragon of shimmering heat distorted the surrounding light into seven colors.

The Messengers of Wanambi contained a concept that made heat a living being and Shinjou had brought them with her for the seals of heaven and earth.

“Do not worry” “Protect” “Will protect” “Shinjou” “Important” “Person”

The shimmering dragon landed near Shinjou and glared at their surroundings to protect her.

With her head still lowered, Shinjou opened her mouth.

“Mikoku-san… You’re wrong.”

In the wind, the cannon blasts and clashing swords were the forest and the shaking was the earth.

“Why do you have to lose everything if you don’t want to lose anything? Wouldn’t you be the last one to want that? And if so…then you’re wrong!”

“Then are you saying you’re right?”

Shinjou shook her head.

“I don’t know. But…the person I care for the most says I am.”

She breathed in.

“That person is always wrong, but I know he actually wants to be right. I know he wants to be right but always tasks himself with being wrong!”

“You mean…”

“He is a villain!!”

She raised her head and reached her hand toward the cloudy sky.

“I will call the name of my precious villain! If I do that, he will rush to my side no matter where he is and he will tell me I am right! And I will tell him he is wrong but right. And because I know that, he can be wrong without worrying. So…so come to me, my villain! No matter how many worlds away you might be, come to me!”

The watch on her raised hand said it was 10:10.

At that moment, she gave a shout.

“Sayama-kun!!”

Her cry received two responses.

First, her outstretched hand was grabbed from above.

“I am here. And…”

Second, the owner of an out-of-breath voice spoke to her.

“Now, let us continue on together, Shinjou-kun.”

She was pulled up toward heaven.

Shinjou gave a tearful smile toward the source of that pull.

“Yes,” she called. “We’ll be together forever, Sayama-kun.”

At the same time, the world was reconnected.

“————!!”

Tokyo returned to its original form around them.

The eight-directional battlefield was back.

As the land reconnected, Shinjou saw what Sayama was riding and what she had been pulled onto.

“Thunder Fellow?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The blue and white mechanical dragon carried a long cannon below it.

Shinjou moved up next to Sayama and felt the shimmering dragon approaching her again.

“Wh-why is Heo here?”

“Did you not notice, Shinjou-kun? I had to arrive by 10:10.”

Sayama pointed behind him.

Far behind them were walls of light with a large circle at the bottom.

…''Those are the surrounding walls of the eight-direction seal.

“Those walls needed sixty-four minutes to create. In other words, 10:04. And now that they are complete, the bearers of the Concept Cores are free to leave their region.”

“Then…”

“Yes,” replied Harakawa as he opened the canopy. “That idiot called us, saying he was feeling lonely. He asked if anyone was free.”

“I only did so just in case, but that may have been the right decision. Then again, I am confident I could have outrun that explosion had I kept running.”

“Keep dreaming.”

When Harakawa closed the canopy, Shinjou exchanged a bitter smile with Sayama.

The two of them then looked up into the heavens.

“Another twenty minutes until the positive concepts are complete. But we need sixteen minutes to set up the seals of heaven and earth. That means we only have four minutes to reach the Leviathan.”

Heo responded to Sayama.

“Leave that to us. We’ll get you there. After all…this is the mission my dad left for me.”

“Then we are counting on you, Heo Thunderson-kun. So…shall we go, Shinjou-kun?”

“Yes, let’s go, Sayama-kun.”

Shinjou pulled on his arm and nodded.

…''Let’s go to fight.

“Let’s go stop Mikoku-san. After all…”

She looked him in the eye.

“She’s aching.”

He did not answer her, but he did give a small nod.

“Heo-kun, take us to the Leviathan at your new-rider fare.”

“Of course!!”

With that, Thunder Fellow moved slowly forward.

A ring of enemies was visible up above, but in the span of a breath, Thunder Fellow picked up speed with Shinjou and Sayama crouched low on his back.

They flew in a straight line toward the Leviathan.

Everyone running through the battlefield saw it.

In the center of the sky, a straight white contrail ascended through the wing-filled night.

It was Thunder Fellow.

“Go,” someone muttered while grabbing an angel automaton by the neck and slamming her to the ground. “Please get there!!”

As the others watched in agreement, many wings descended to stop the mechanical dragon.

They were the Leviathan’s defenders, primarily made up of Seraph mechanical dragons.

That force of several thousand approached the rising contrail, but no one uttered a single word of worry.

Just like the enemy, they were releasing their own forces.

Two sets of wings flew up from the earth below.

One was the wings of a girl with a spear.

The other was the four-wings of a black god of war with a boy on its shoulder.

As the enemies flew above and the Leviathan began to move its secondary cannons, the girl and black god of war moved apart. They waved casually toward the blue and white dragon.

“We’ll clear the way, Sayama! Shinjou!!”

“Try to be a little thankful, you stupid underclassman!!”

“Of course.” The boy on the blue and white dragon’s back spoke to the two rising sets of wings. “We will leave this to you…to Team Leviathan.”

With Izumo on its shoulder, Susamikado flew toward the Leviathan in an arc.

The Leviathan’s secondary cannons were moving.

Their target was the blue and white mechanical dragon.

So Hiba asked Mikage to raise the output of their wings. He had a single way of asking her.

“Mikage-san!”

“Nn.”

It would be easy to call it a tacit understanding. She responded to his call by boosting the wings on Susamikado’s back.

…''Here we go!

For a fifteen kilometer mechanical dragon, even its secondary cannons could be one hundred meters long.

They could barely feel their speed due to the size of the object they were approaching.

“Here comes the enemy!”

Just as Izumo had said, gods of war flew from a hatch on top of the Leviathan.

They were the Lords model. It was the same model used against them when they had pursued the Leviathan before.

There were four of them and their relative speed was so great it left them nearly impossible to see.

But Hiba still charged in.

He did not rely on his sped-up vision.

“Race, my heart!”

He could feel his entire body. He kept his mind on the flowing wind and the flowing movements of the enemy.

In his battle with Tatsumi, he had gained a technique to receive any power. He used that technique to sense every kind of “flow”.

The battle had no end. He did not even think about his own victory.

He brought everything he had learned to the next level.

…''I will keep the dance of battle going!

He did not predict his enemy’s movements. After deciding which flow of motion seemed best, he constructed that motion with a focus on his interactions with the other participant.

Instead of thinking five or ten steps ahead, he thought every step ahead as he moved.

It only lasted an instant.

The four pure-white gods of war swung their twin blades toward the black god of war from countless angles.

“——————”

He only took a light step. He only spun around and jumped once into the air.

But by twisting his body, turning his side, raising his wings, turning his head, sweeping his arms around, and keeping his thoughts on moving ever forward, not one of the blades even grazed him.

At the same time, the Leviathan fired one of its secondary cannons in the center of his vision.

The air shook and the two meter shell of light flew toward him, but those in the sky did not panic.

But they did take action.

Hiba and Mikage spun around to send Izumo to the right.

A spray of metallic noise filled the air as the boy prepared his attack on Susamikado’s palm.

“V-Sw, final form!”

“Right away.”

The cowling expanded and fixed itself in midair.

When it fired at 120% output, it did not produce the pillar of light of its third form.

It was a blade.

The thick blade was over five hundred meters long.

“Ohhhhhh!!”

The sky was split apart.

The four Lords models took evasive action, but they could not escape the size of the blade.

In that one strike, dozens of approaching gods of war blossomed like midair flowers.

But those humanoid machines had not been Izumo’s target.

Hiba saw Izumo twist around to build up more speed.

“Izumo is up to bat! He’s going for a powerful swing here…”

Izumo swung his massive blade toward the ball of light fired by the Leviathan’s secondary cannon.

“Cla-claaaang!!”

His “bat” produced a tremendous noise as it hit the “baseball”.

“It’s flying right back at the pitcher! At this rate…”

It struck the Leviathan.

The armor covering several hundred meters of its port side dented in and a shockwave struck its giant form. The smaller pieces of armor were instantly peeled away and scattered through the winter sky like snow.

“Homerun!!”

The giant mechanical dragon leaned back a bit and Hiba did not overlook this chance.

After placing Izumo back on his shoulder, he flew up in an uppercut-like arc.

“Keravnos!!”

The twenty meter pile bunker appeared on his black right arm.

The bolts drove satisfyingly into place and he raised the weapon toward the Leviathan’s upper secondary cannons.

He fired.

The upper armor was something like an anti-air shrine, but the two kilometer blast of lightning destroyed it.

“Go!!”

The Leviathan had already bent a bit from the “baseball” hit, so it truly did twist around this time.

Susamikado then passed through the spreading electrical discharge and headed down.

It needed to intercept the mechanical dragons flying up after Thunder Fellow.

“Chisato!” shouted Izumo from the shoulder. “Get them!”

He raised his voice toward the pair of wings battling the mechanical dragons around the Leviathan.

“Get them! I know you can do it!!”

Kazami heard Izumo as she fought the mechanical dragons.

Her enemies were Seraph models. That was the same model that had attacked Thunder Fellow when they had pursued the Leviathan.

They were fast and their flames burned through everything.

Kazami however used the sharp turns of her wings to toy with the Seraph models.

They came at her in a group, so she decided where to position herself among them all. She chose a spot where they could not attack her but she could attack them.

Her wings carried her quickly, but she also spread them and broke them to brake.

This was much like her battle with Alex.

''But,'' she thought. ''That battle was a lot tougher.

…''No, that isn’t it.

All battles were tough by definition.

If she did not predict what the enemy would do and then fight back, she would die.

But this battle felt easier than the one with Alex.

And yet it may have been just as difficult.

The discrepancy was easily explained.

“It’s because I’ve experienced so many battles.”

She had forgotten how she had worked her way through so many enemies.

''I still have a long way to go,'' she decided as she flipped through the wind.

Many different concepts were in effect here.

Her Kazami surname activated and so did her Chisato given name.

So she saw the wind and she flapped her wings to instantly travel great distances.

And she flew.

She flew toward one of the Seraph models.

“!”

She suddenly shattered her own wings to lower her speed.

She used their relative speed to drive her spear into it.

The spear struck the joint actuator at the base of a wing.

For a fighter jet or a mechanical dragon, that was a delicate part that could not attack.

Destroying it even a little would cause the dragon to lose control for a brief moment.

And in this confused dogfight, a single moment could be fatal. Some of them crashed into others and broke apart when she did this.

The enemies then kept their distance and fired a barrage at her.

But Kazami could see even that.

This enemy’s speed was greater than any she had seen before.

So was their mobility.

And the number of their attacks.

And the density of this barrage.

…''But so what?

Even if it had not been on this level, she had fought against great powers before.

For projectiles of light, she had fought the Heavenly Moon Bow.

For a barrage, she had fought Cottus.

For high-speed combat, she had fought Alex.

And she had fought Brunhild recently.

She had also fought other gods of war, mechanical dragons, and non-humans.

Even if this enemy had the greatest specs she had seen, her combat experience was far greater.

She had very nearly died several times.

…''And I nearly lost someone important to me.

“But you don’t even have that!”

Kazami spun around as she flew.

To drive away the Seraph models, she moved behind them, struck them, and looked down to her hands.

The value on the console had surpassed 100%.

She had built up that power by fighting without firing or accelerating.

What could she do now?

She matched her timing to a rotating Seraph model and kicked its side armor.

…''Take a great jump.

She took a several hundred meter back step and saw countless mechanical dragons and angels in the sky.

They were all firing on her in unison.

The rumbling tremor she heard was created by thousands of projectiles. The light seemed to form a cloud.

But Kazami smiled as she raised G-Sp2.

There was a certain attack this situation allowed her.

“G-Sp2, final form.”

She operated the device. She placed a hand on the console, raised her eyebrows, and looked to the great enemy army and its attacks.

“Go!”

“Roger that.”

She immediately spelled out “Gungnir” with the console’s buttons and then added more letters.

“T-I-T-A-N-I-C-L-A-N-C-E! Titanic Lance!”

She fired a dragon of light into the sky.

But that dragon that had brought about the demise of the gods followed Kazami’s instructions by returning to its original form.

Instead of a raging dragon of destruction, it took on the true form it wanted.

It became a giant spear.

The body was that of a dragon, but the head was sharply pointed and its body extended straight backwards.

Kazami saw the giant white spear race through the sky.

It struck.

The dragon instantly turned thousands of enemies into explosions of light as it pierced through them and decorated the sky with light.

The remaining enemies were destroyed by a white blast from below.

Thunder Fellow had fired its Vesper Cannon.

The heavens shook and the enemies covering the Leviathan vanished.

The path to the battlefield was clear.

At 10:14, two patterns appeared to support two lights fired from the Leviathan.

One circle covered the heavens above and the other covered the earth below.

The patterns of white light began to rotate.

Supported by the sealing barriers in the surrounding eight directions, the two patterns rapidly took form as soon as they appeared.

But…

“Another sixteen minutes.”

Everyone knew that the two supporting those circles had arrived on the Leviathan.

And they also knew the bearer of the Leviathan was also there.

“We’re about the have the answer!”

At the same time, white light flew up above the Leviathan.

Thunder Fellow had left the great mechanical dragon.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_22|Chapter 22]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_24|Chapter 24]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 7

2016-03-22T10:54:42Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 7: Sweethearts at a Place of Wishes */ Typo

==Chapter 7: Sweethearts at a Place of Wishes==
[[File:Horizon_Kimi1B_123.jpg|thumb]]
''Ah.

''My usual habits kicked in

''And I went a little crazy…

'''Point Allocation (Can’t Be Helped)

Asama was thinking.

…''Now, this is supposed to be a date, but what are we supposed to do?

They were at Mt. Takao. It was called a mountain, but it was actually the nature district and sail on the back end of Takao, the third starboard ship. The main selling points were the small mountain in the nature district, the Buddhist temple, and the various training ground viewing points or self-prayer stations.

Takao was known as a power spot, so it was of course the major Buddhist location on the Musashi. The mountain monks would also gather there.

According to the Testament descriptions, Mt. Takao was managed by Ookubo Nagayasu, a Matsudaira retainer, and Asama had heard that the candidates to inherit the Ookubo name were training there.

…''Isn’t the daughter of the Ookubo family in the first year?

Because Ookubo Nagayasu managed Mt. Takao, rights to the name fell to Musashi rather than to Mikawa which had sent everyone away and given the names of all the major retainers to automatons. Partially because the Tadayo name had already been inherited by someone from Musashi, it was expected that someone else from Musashi would inherit Ookubo Nagayasu’s name as well. But…

“Takao can’t develop too much since its manager’s name hasn’t been inherited yet.”

As the daughter of the Asama Shrine, she decided she needed to focus more on the area’s ley line output and tuning management.

Even so, the area was well established.

Children played in the nature district’s park and the mountain monks were training in the artificial waterfall.

“Okay, today’s water has an impurity-exorcising spell, so a Buddha’s gonna appear and beat the crap out of all the impure people. I hope you’re ready.”

The water had stopped flowing over the bare-rock cliff and the mountain monks prepared themselves down below in front of a display that said “standby”. All of them held body pillows or porn game boxes with waterproof spell charms attached.

“All right! Bring it! I’ll resist this with my waifu!!”

“Yeah! Today we’ll prove that our genre-loving spirit has the justice needed to defeat even a Buddha!”

“That’s right. If we win here, it means this is Buddha-approved!!”

As soon as the cascade of water poured down, they were all swept away. For about a minute, the sounds of sutra strikes came from the Buddha that appeared at the bottom of the water. Finally, the mountain monks floated up, lying face-down in the water.

Once the older monks fished them out with bamboo poles, they all sounded refreshed.

“Ah ha ha! I feel like I was castrated from the bottom of my stomach to my crotch!”

“Okay! Let’s start from the beginning: browsing the divine network and saving any porn images we happen to come across!!”

“Yeah! Let’s use our refreshed worldly minds to awaken to a brand new genre!!”

Kimi and Mitotsudaira commented on the mountain monks who walked off with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“Isn’t that just formatting the memory of their worldly minds?”

“And aren’t they looking at it all wrong if they’re thinking about ‘resisting’ it?”

“I’ve heard that some things just can’t be erased…”

Shinto could also purify impurities, but there was nothing they could do about the root problem. And even if they could, it would cause problems as far as ‘having many descendants’ was concerned. Plus, Shinto mythology tended to promote sexual things.

…''It’s a tricky issue…

Asama took the other two along Mt. Takao. The mast portion was used for temple lodgings, so they did not need to go that far. Some trainee monks who had been lax in their training were being forced to bungee jump off the sail as many times as their age, but Asama could not quite remember if the Testament descriptions mentioned that or not.

“Asama, is that the reverse bungee using the towing belt’s ejection device that I’ve heard so much about lately? It shoots them up pretty high, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll agree that the training grounds here seem to be growing weirder and weirder.”

Some of the monks were jogging with an older monk in the lead.

“Listen! You are all pigs! You are from the Animal Realm! But I will whip you into shape so you can reach enlightenment! We’ll be singing a perverted song as we run to erase your worldly thoughts! …Freeze-dried tofu is good tofu~! It’s good for me~! And good for you~! C’mon!”

The others repeated after him and Asama wondered if she needed to set up any defenses against what they were saying.

''But,'' she thought. ''Does this work for a date or not?

…''Right now, we’re at a Buddhist theme par-…no. Some of the monks over there may be putting on a fire-walking show, but that must be part of their training.

“Tomo, um, is that dancing Mikkyo Mouse over there really a legitimate part of Buddhism?”

“Well, I think he’s part of the Animal Realm, but beyond that I don’t know.”

Kimi on the other hand seemed to be in a good mood as she clung to Asama’s right arm.

Asama wanted ask what she found to be so entertaining, but…

…''A good escort doesn’t ask if their partner is enjoying the date.

If they assumed their partner was enjoying it and were looking for agreement, they were looking down on their partner. If they assumed their partner was not enjoying it and yet asked, then they were only looking for a convenient answer.

The correct answer was to find things that they assumed they and their partner would enjoy, guide them there, and naturally enjoy that time together.

If the knowledge Asama had gained from their previous discussion was accurate, then what people enjoyed would never match up if they tried to force it. And even if it did, it would not last long.

''Then,'' thought Asama. ''I need to figure out what it is we all enjoy.

''I need to find it.

“…Oh.”

Asama looked to an offering station to the side and saw a fire altar.

…''If we use that to chant a sutra for a Buddhist spell, we can get anti-demon divine protection, can’t we?

She just about asked Kimi and Mito if they wanted to try it out, but then she started wondering if chanting a sutra and getting anti-demon divine protection would be a fun date activity.

“…Nn.”

It would help teach her the differences between Shinto and Buddhism and the divine protection would be useful for her work, but…

…''Th-that doesn’t have much at all to do with Kimi or Mito.

''Oh, no,'' she thought.

She had been glancing over at the various fire altars and other things for a while now, but she had been looking at them in the context of her work with spells.

To Kimi and Mito, she was being nothing more than a spell-obsessed freak.

“…”

She shuddered at her own actions.

She had no idea if the training grounds or anything else here were “fun”.

She wanted to try out the different facilities, but that was because her work with spells made her curious if and how their divine protection and exorcism systems worked.

…''Wow. I really am an obsessed freak.

She had assumed this date plan had been on her home field, but that was wrong. In a way, it was a complete away game where she could only score own goals.

…''Oh, no…

Getting out of here as quickly as possible was the best course of action. When their enjoyment was so out of sync, it was better to leave and go somewhere else than to make a mistake. But…

“Asama.”

Kimi pulled on her right arm.

Shaken by the other girl’s slowed pace, Asama turned to the right. She did not even have time to tilt her head. She decided to ask while hoping Kimi would not ask anything weird about the surrounding facilities.

“Wh-what is it?”

“Silly girl. You walked right past it.”

A small public fire altar was set up on the side of the path.

“Heh heh. How about we all try it out together?”

…''Ehhhhh!? But what if my spell-obsessed blood gets all fired up!?

Despite Asama’s worries, Kimi pulled on her arm, but Mitotsudaira pulled in the opposite direction.

“W-wait. I have the Cerberus with me! What if he gets exorcised?”

Asama thought to herself while being pulled on from either direction.

…''Oh, am I really popular right now or something?

Mitotsudaira spoke to Kimi while focused on the Cerberus on her head.

“Buddhist divine protections exorcise instead of purify. That means they entirely erase the target instead of just getting rid of the impurity. What if it affects my Cerberus?”

“Um, Mito?”

Asama tried to say something with a serious look on her face, but Kimi nestled up against the girl’s arm and cut her off.

Kimi lowered her eyebrows in a smile while looking back and forth between Mitotsudaira and the Cerberus.

“Heh heh. Then can’t you just put Troiko down and have him wait until we’re done?”

“A-and have him feeling left out!?”

“Oh? Is the Mitotsudaira family unable to discipline its servants?”

“N-now you’ve said it!”

Mitotsudaira placed the Cerberus on the ground.

“I can to discipline him! See!?”

She tried taking a step away, but the Cerberus dashed over to her.

…''D-do you have no patience at all!?

She was at a loss for words, but Kimi and Asama spoke up behind her.

“Talk about a lack of discipline…”

“Yes, I expected her to coddle the thing, but I never thought it would be just as clingy…”

“Qu-quiet down, you two!”

Mitotsudaira picked up the Cerberus and placed it back down. She made sure it sat down, rubbed its head, and told it with her eyes to stay put. Then Kimi spoke from behind her.

“Dat’s a good bwoy~ Shtay right dere~ Heh heh heh!”

“I was not saying that!!”

''Not in baby talk anyway,'' she added silently.

The Cerberus still looked like it would get up and dash after her the second she gave it an opening, but she somehow got it to sit down and then she pulled her hips back.

Taking a step back would not work.

If she did that, it would dash after her, so she started by pulling her hips back to place her body backwards. Then, instead of taking a step back with her feet, she pulled the rest of herself back. She guessed the Cerberus would not dash after her like this.

It did not.

''Good, good,'' she thought while holding her palms out to the Cerberus.

''He can learn like this,'' she thought.

“Stay,” she said to help.

It dashed toward her.

…''Khhh!!

''Honestly, the stupid thing doesn’t know how to do what he’s told,'' she thought while Kimi and Asama spoke behind her.

“They often say this kind of thing shows how you were raised yourself.”

“Does that mean Mito was undisciplined back with her parents?”

“What are you two whispering about!?”

The Cerberus barked as if in response.

''This isn’t good,'' thought Mitotsudaira while gently lifting the Cerberus up to eye level.

“Um, listen. A servant is supposed to listen to what his master says.”

“Mito! Mito! Pets are also seen as prized possessions, so you could also go that route here!!”

“B-but…” Mitotsudaira looked back toward Asama and Kimi. “I’m from a knight family. Even a pet needs to have a proper master/servant relationship!”

She held her chest out proudly, but Kimi raised a hand.

Mitotsudaira had a bad feeling about this, so she narrowed her eyes as she asked about it.

“What is it?”

“Judge. …If you think pets should have a master/servant relationship, does that mean your master/servant relationship with your king comes from a desire to be his pet?”

At first, she had no idea what Kimi meant.

…''Eh?

She read back through it in her heart, grasped the meaning, comprehended it, and imagined it, but Asama reacted first.

“W-wait, Kimi! You mean Mito would have a chain around her neck while she goes on a walk with a nudist, gets all excited as he feeds her, and marks the area when they come to a stop no matter how embarrassing it might be? And then she sleeps in his bed in place of a heater!? What are you thinking!? There’s such a thing as being too cruel even among friends!!”

“You’re the cruel one, Tomo!!”

However, Mitotsudaira did recall seeing her mother and father heading to their bedroom with chains and collars around their necks, so perhaps that was something similar. When she had asked what the chains were for, her mother had said, “Heh heh. That’s too treat a bit of a disease we get. It’s something like rabies, so we start drooling and biting at each other. But it heals up by the next morning, so there’s nothing to worry about.” She was pretty sure she had heard a long, shrill scream from her father after that, so thinking back, her mother might not have been healed after all.

But…

…''Being his servant by being his pet!?

She had never thought of that before. Perhaps she could think of that as a new set of values.

She started to imagine it, although not as vividly as Tomo had.

She did not think too deeply about it. It was more about what kind of situation that would be or the general feel it would have. She was just taking a quick peek.

…''Um…

“Now, imagine your king is sitting in a chair. You are sitting on the floor next to him. You take his hand and place it on your throat to have him scratch you while you whine. Once you can’t hold back any longer, you move in front of him, place yourself between his legs, and rub your throat against him. You try to snatch the snack he’s eating with the corner of your mouth, but you end up knocking both of you and the chair over. You end up lying on top of him, and…”

“Qu-quit butting into my imagination!”

…''Ah, Tomo is giving me a shocked look!

''You’ve got it all wrong!'' she thought as a sign frame opened between the three of them. For some reason, it displayed the white stealth sky.

“Hi, this is Naruze. I-I was flying around, but I got another sudden nosebleed and crashed. …W-were you sending out some weird sexual signal over the airwaves?”

Mitotsudaira was not sure what the Technohexen meant, but Asama took one glance at the shape of the sky on the screen and said, “Oh, that’s Oume’s 3rd wide block. I’ll contact the contract station in Hamura and have someone who can provide free medical care sent out.”

Mitotsudaira sighed and let Asama take care of Naruze.

She picked the Cerberus up again.

“Why don’t the two of you go get a divine protection from that fire altar without me?”

“Eh? But the Cerberus would be fine.”

“What?”

Mitotsudaira’s head fell forward and Tomo explained.

“Thanks to the rules of the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, a local god like that will be treated like a lowest-level Buddha, so he won’t be exorcised.”

“Y-you could have told me earlier!”

“Well, I tried to stop you when you started talking about exorcism, but…”

Who was it that had cut her off? The culprit had turned the other way with her shoulders shaking.

…''Kimi!

Mitotsudaira knew baring her fangs would not get through to that girl, so…

“Tomo! …Let’s leave that trickster here and go get the divine protection without her!”

Mitotsudaira grabbed onto Asama’s arm and started toward the fire altar space.

Asama smiled a little at Mitotsudaira’s behavior.

She could be a little strict as a knight, but she would become more like the others when that was not necessary. She of course needed an excuse or justification for that transformation, but Kimi had provided that here.

…''This really is a give-and-take kind of thing…

Asama found that a little amusing, but then she realized where they were.

A lantern-like pedestal and a small fire altar vending machine were set up in a forest clearing. Kimi had already bought the materials to make a fist-sized wooden framework.

“Now, let’s get started.”

“C’mon, Tomo. We don’t know how to do this, so can you put it together for us?”

…''Ehhhhhh!?

''How could you ask that of a spell-obsessed freak?'' she thought. ''B-but this is fine. I just have to avoid going crazy like that. Yes, if I do it naturally and on instinct…no, that’s getting into obsession territory. So, um, I need to grab the altar wood like I have no idea what I’m doing.

“…Tomo? Your hand is shaking like crazy.”

“N-no, this is fine. This is perfectly normal. B-but, y’know. I don’t know all that much a-about this kind of thing.”

“Heh heh. But, Asama, how does this work?”

“Oh, well, you set fire to the altar once it’s set up and summon the power of a Buddha using a mantra. The ether effect synchronizes with the heat conduction of the fire, so passing the heat through things will burn away any impurities or apply a divine protection. The way the heat conduction style of divine protection spreads is dependent on the way the altar is set up, so you mainly want to build it vertically. But it’s actually more efficient if it swells out in the center.”

She realized what she had done only after answering.

…''N-now I’ve done it!!

She had claimed not to know much about it and now this. She was acting like a nerd.

But…

“I see.”

That was all Mitotsudaira and Kimi said as they began helping with the construction of the small altar.

…''Eh?

Asama did not understand.

Weren’t they going to leave this to her? But those two were each constructing a side of the fist-sized altar while Asama dealt with the rest.

Then they stuck the charm stick into the pedestal’s central hole.

“We light the incense while chanting the mantra.”

Buddhist prayers did not ask for things like love. They were mostly on a large scale such as for an entire nation or they were for protection from demons or illness. Instead of improving daily life…

…''They protect you from unpleasant things.

Kimi lit the end of the charm and it started burning down faster than expected.

After she grabbed a pinch of incense from the small bag provided and sprinkled it on the charm, the smoke and aroma spread out. Asama and Mitotsudaira watched Kimi fan it over toward them.

“What kind of charm is this?” asked Asama.

“One I don’t need.”

“Then what is it?”

“I told you: one I don’t need.”

“And. What. Is. It?”

Kimi refused to answer, so Asama snatched the bag in front of her and checked the effect written on it.

“Boy repellent… Ehhh!? What is this!?”

Asama saw Kimi tilting her head while repeating “oh, dear” over and over.

Kimi pointed at herself with both hands.

“This is a Buddhist prayer for love, right? It makes boys other than your beloved have a harder time noticing your charm. The part of your presence that invites worldly thoughts is sealed off to everyone but a specific person.”

“No, um, uh. I’m supposed to draw customers… I show up in commercials and stuff. Just the other day, my dad and I did a Shinto home shopping guide.”

“Heh heh. Now what’s the real reason? …Do you have someone in mind?”

“Um, uh…”

There was nothing to get so flustered about. She knew that, but Kimi was smiling and egging her on and Mitotsudaira joined in with a bitter smile.

“Of course, who knows how useful this kind of cheap divine protection is. But it can still act as a symbol. From now, one we need to be aware of how we each feel about a ‘boy repellent’.”

“With that decided, let it wash over you. You need to get your money’s worth.”

…''Does this really mean anything?

Asama wondered that as the fire’s heat washed over her and the incense smoke surrounded her.

“C’mon,” said Kimi. “You’re dense when it comes to yourself, so you need this most of all.”

She fanned over the thickest part of the smoke.

Asama could sense the incense reaching her and passing through her hair. The fire altar’s divine protections interfered with the ones she already had. Hanami appeared and automatically resolved any issues, but it concerned Asama when she saw “Beloved Person: Set by user’s feelings”.

And then…

“You’re too jumpy, Asama.” Kimi cut in. “You should know better than us how little a cheap divine protection like this can do.”

“But…it’s still a divine protection…”

“It’s set by your feelings, isn’t it? So are you afraid you can’t control your own thoughts?”

“—————”

Asama did not know what to say and Kimi’s smile grew.

“Heh heh. You would normally say love is off limits for shrine maidens, but you mistakenly thought this kind of divine protection means you have to fall in love with someone, didn’t you?”

“I-I was not mistaken.”

“Then you were correct to think that?”

Asama could immediately tell this was a play on words. It was simply a clever shift of meaning in what she said.

But…

“Don’t worry,” said Kimi. “When it comes down to it, you won’t be mistaken.”

“Wait.”

Asama held out her hands to stop the girl, but the smoke blew over. Feeling there was no helping that, she spoke up.

“Are you saying I’m mistaken or not?”

“If I had to say, I guess you aren’t.”

After all…

“When it’s something that really matters to you, you always do what you want in the end.”

“Th-that isn’t true. Shrine maidens have to be selfless, you know?”

“Oh? And who are you being selfless for?

“Eh…?”

Asama was not sure what to say again and Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly next to her.

“Well, you certainly are letting people like Kimi push you around.”

Asama did not dare agree lest Kimi take it as a promise. But…

…''Hmm…

Was she really that stubborn in the very end?

And even if she was, there was someone she could not say no to. But…

…''I wonder.

Was she mistaken about her inability to say no to that person? Or was she correct because those things were more or less what she herself wanted?

She recalled why she was here and why it was she had decided to form a band.

“————”

Was she mistakenly using his words there? Or was the desire inside her the same as what he hoped for?

…''I wonder.

She started thinking more about it, but…

“C’mon, your incense is the only one left. Hurry up and use it.”

Asama looked Kimi in the eye as the girl fanned the thinning smoke over toward her.

…''Honestly.

That girl and that boy could easily push her heart around. She could be strict, but she could relax around those two and perhaps that was why she wanted to be pushed around by them.

If so, everything she was doing now was a mistaken understanding of her own desire to be pushed around.

“…I see.”

“What do you see?”

“If I do what I want in the very end, then I can’t know whether I was mistaken or not without going to the very end.”

“What?”

Mitotsudaira tilted her head, but Asama ignored her and dumped her bag of incense onto the charm. The incense quickly burned, producing bluish-white smoke.

“I’m not giving you any of this.”

Asama fanned it to herself.

“Oh, c’mon,” said Kimi. “Of course I’m going to want it if you say that.”

“Well, you can’t have any. This is a barrier I need to keep unwanted focus off of me as I continue on to the very end. I need to find the answer quickly.”

After all, there were only six days until the Gagaku Festival. She wanted to see what it was she wanted before then, so she let the smoke pass through her hair and clothes.

…''Honestly.

Those two always brought trouble.

''But,'' she thought in her heart.

…''Trouble is one thing Shinto shrines are meant to deal with.

As she wondered how to confirm she was correct and not mistaken, she let the incense pass through her body.

“While we’re at it, how about we give ourselves more divine protections to repel unnecessary things?”

“Oh, dear. Are you trying to keep us all for yourself just because we’re on a date?”

''I was always planning to do that,'' she thought. After all…

“I’m very strict. Even when it comes to dates.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
}}
</noinclude>

User talk:Muton

2016-03-20T03:16:48Z

68.109.63.229: /* Owari 7 epub */ new section

==Owari no Chronicle==

I've uploaded translations for the character charts of the two first volumes (1-A and 1-B). I started with 1-B, then tried another format in 1-A, so this last one is easier to read.--[[User:Kemm|Kemm]] ([[User talk:Kemm|talk]]) 15:05, 17 September 2013 (CDT)
:Thanks, I will edit them at some point. -[[User:Muton|Muton]] ([[User talk:Muton#top|talk]]) 12:38, 28 September 2013 (CDT)

==Horizon 1-A EPUB==
I just noticed that the part in the back cover with Kawakami and his novels is a pretty old version. Back in November, I uploaded the correct one with js06's names for the City Series novels. Other than that, I think it's perfect. [[User:Strike Forcer|Strike Forcer]] ([[User talk:Strike Forcer|talk]]) 14:11, 19 February 2015 (CST)
:I can't believe I forgot about it. Updated. -[[User:Muton|Muton]] ([[User talk:Muton#top|talk]]) 10:19, 21 February 2015 (CST)

== Owari 7 epub ==

The Owari volume 7 epub is missing the chapter 22 page from it's files.
[[Special:Contributions/68.109.63.229|68.109.63.229]] 03:16, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter 23

2016-03-19T23:44:11Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 23: Skeptics in the Meeting Session */

==Chapter 23: Skeptics in the Meeting Session==
[[Image:Horizon1B_049.jpg|thumb]]

''Even if there is doubt

''Will it be settled, or

''Can it be settled

'''Point Allocation (The Cooperative Personality)

In a classroom where the sun shines in.

The eastern sunlight, still a dim ambiance, slightly lights up the classroom and the students inside from the side.

The desks in the class are mostly filled.

Yet, they are not in a state of calm, nor are they in a state of silence.

At this moment, one is standing and conveying words to the rest; Heidi, whose seat is next to Shirojiro’s.

And putting a number of sign frames into order and looking around her vicinity…

“So the ones not attending are Miriam, Mito and Masa, as well as Seijun and Azuma, then…”

“After that,” Heidi spoke as she turned to look at the seat farthest back by the window.

Toori’s figure was there, not appearing to be awake. Remaining face down on his desk, he showed no signs of movement.

Looking at him, Asama called Hanami out and typed a few letters into her signframe:

“He was taken to the police station last night, then seems to have arrived first this morning.”

Noriki, Urquiaga and Neshinbara nodded as if to answer. Neshinbara brought out his signframe:

“The rest of us were allowed to leave immediately, but Aoi-kun… He had quite a few more offenses before this so they had a lot to admonish him for.”

Everyone hung their heads hearing that message. They then brought out their own sign frames, by themselves or through their Mice.

“Well, he did climb up the trees and streetlamps without any reason a lot of the time.”

“He led the residential block admins into sticky situations every so often as well.”

“Not to mention Lane 11 of Tama’s outer shell becoming a world of cats because of his incessant feeding, as far as I know…”

“Why is everyone not choosing to follow through, I wonder?”

In response to Heidi’s message, everyone waved their hands left and right. Heidi herself mouthed the words ‘well can’t help it’, and then after a pause…

“Toori-kun doesn’t seem to be moving, so won’t the rest of us think about various things? …Come on, Erimaki.”

While surveying the members present, Heidi held her hand out in Shirojiro’s direction and called their white fox Mouse.

In response to her gesture, Erimaki ran up to her shoulder and glanced at the number of sign frames expanding before it.

“The situation then, to start. …Putting it bluntly, Horizon and Musashi are in trouble.”

Thus Heidi began.

“Musashi will be transferred as a replacement for the town of Mikawa, and we as its residents will have to go over to the Matsudaira territory in Edo. Horizon will have the Logismoi Óplo she illegally possesses extracted from her; and to take responsibility for Mikawa’s destruction, it has been decided that she will commit suicide.”

But, Heidi continued.

“Not only myself, but the Treasurer Shiro-kun, the Secretary Neshinbara and the Chancellor and President Toori-kun; all our rights are withheld by King Yoshinao, so we cannot have a say in this. The Vice President Seijun still has her authority, but as the Provisional Council has taken her into themselves she seems to be on the Testament Union’s side. Anyway, we’d like to think about what we can do about this without causing any trouble.”

Heidi collected her breath after saying all of that. Turning her head to look over everyone once…

“Then, from here onwards we’ll be hearing everyone’s courses of action.”

Heidi altered her expression into a more formal manner.

“Ignoring the many obstacles we will encounter, does anyone want to save Horizon and stop Musashi’s transfer?”

Thus Heidi asked, raising her hand.

But everyone in the classroom, even him…

“…Eh, is no one raising their hand up?”

There was a response to her inquiry. It was Noriki’s voice, who said while touching the bandage on his cheek:

“We have nothing to work with. …How about listing all of that first?”

“I see,” Kimi said while spreading out a fashion magazine and cutting important details out with a scissors.

Kimi raised her gaze and looked at Heidi with a tilted face, and said:

“The average person would be like ‘don’t get me involved, please’, wouldn’t they? Both the Provisional Council and King Yoshinao seem like they will accept Horizon’s suicide and Musashi’s transfer, no? Would the trend be, then, to let those take their course and wash their hands off where they are not involved, I wonder.”

A moment.

“Anyone’s ideal situation would be: Horizon dying or whatever, just spare us this transfer of Musashi, wouldn’t it? There’s still room for discussion on that part after all, isn’t there? Well?”

“Judge,” answered Heidi. She stole a glance to the south, towards an unseen land port they would go to, obscured by the hills and mountains. Furthermore…

“You know, Horizon still succeeded as Motonobu’s legitimate daughter, informal as the ceremony is. Thus his authority over Mikawa as a monarch, his rights as the representative of the Far East to the Testament Union, as well as his ownership of Musashi; all of that has been succeeded by Horizon.”

Thus…

“If Horizon commits suicide, where do you think those rights will go?”

“Heh heh heh. How silly! Do you think I can answer that!? Umm, the sky! Towards the evening!”

“Don’t just answer randomly!!”

“Hmm…” Heidi turned to face Kimi, with a smile that gives off an impression that it is not.

“You know? If Horizon commits suicide there will be no successor, and all her rights will be taken by the Testament Union. Ownership of the Far East’s core organization, the Musashi Ariadust Academy, the authority of Mikawa’s monarch that will rule the Far East; all of that will be under the Testament Union’s care.”

“Do you understand?”

“The Far East will belong to the Testament Union.”

Everyone ceased their voices at those words.

Heidi, the only one smiling, faced everyone and spoke.

“If Horizon commits suicide, the Far East will belong to the Testament Union. There will be no room for negotiations nor will there be for anything else. …That is why I think the Testament Union was in such a hurry to recognize Horizon’s succession. If they were to take hold of Motonubu’s authority as it is, the problem of Horizon’s succession will arise. But if they were to take her in, hold her accountable as his legitimate child and allow the suicide to occur, they will be able to obtain all rights to the Far East without any problem.”

“Then,” Heidi prefaced without changing her smiling expression.

“Are you getting off? Are you staying? The choice is yours.”

To those words, there was one response: Kimi’s voice. She shrugged her shoulders, and said with a bitter smile:

“So it’s not ‘Are you getting on? Are you not?’ then?”

“Judge, we are Musashi’s residents after all.”

“I see,” Noriki said, holding his arms, adjusting his sitting position and looking at Heidi with a nod.

“I have a lot of younger siblings. Even with the slight will interpretation spell the whole Far Eastern area possesses… I won’t be able to support them all in another place.”

“In that case, give me your sisters! Your sisters! By all means!”

“…This is the first time Nai-chan has heard someone say that personally.”

“Heh heh. Margot, never once did I pay a possessor of such twisted love any mind. I’ll rot if I do.”

“Look who’s talking!!”

Naruze formed a pout in response to everyone’s punch line.

Still, in the midst of the lightened atmosphere someone sounded in agreement.

“Insignificant as it is, I want to save her. I want to remain as we are now. People would have their own conflicts with the Testament Union, but if they did not… Everyone would think that way.”

“I see, definitely,” responded Heidi, forming a smile.

Then she continued, with a “well then” as a preface:

“Shall we ascertain what we do not know at this moment?”

In a dark room, a single figure rose up.

It was Masazumi, black-haired and in white clothes.

Without her outer uniform and trousers, wearing nothing other than her underwear and the short-sleeved shirt that is her inner uniform, she pulled down her blanket to her hips and drew a breath. The words that spilled from her mouth to her chest were…

“Sleepy…”

Murmuring, Masazumi looked around her surroundings with eyes that did not focus on anything.

The room was spacious. It was a reception area, with sofas surrounding a table. With curtains blocking light from the windows, the pictures on the walls, the carpets on the floor, the bookshelves lined up; everything had a darkened color to them.

Masazumi wiped her face with her sleeve without thinking. The fabric absorbed moisture from the corner of her eye to the area on her cheek.

“Did I see a dream again?”

She said in a small voice, rubbing her eyes.

“From when Mother disappeared…”

Before she could finish, she put strength in her eyebrows and eyelids.

“…Nnn.”

Nodding, she opened her eyes and rose straight up at the same time.

Looking around her surroundings, her gaze fell on the books on the sofas and table.

…''This is.

The record of the negotiations with the Testament Union that took place in the outer Provisional Council’s building from last night. Masazumi never entered the meeting room, but the secretary from her father’s group did her the favor of forwarding the decisions the meeting made to her. Various ideas were exchanged and confirmed, and before it was over the night had passed.

After her father’s group left to meet up and open the general meeting, the secretaries also went off somewhere; so Masazumi returned to her home.

Then Masazumi glanced at the single piece of memo placed on those documents.

It contained the conclusions she made herself dealing with the present case after reaching home last night. The contents were…

“…The Method to Save Horizon.”

She remembered writing while thinking it was impossible, then wiped it off right after she finished.

To face the pressure of the Testament Union, the possible ways to refute and counter, and then to convey to other countries that righteousness is, at the very least, on our side.

Still…

“It’s impossible after all.”

She was part of the Provisional Council, which holds the Testament Union’s view; and she was inexperienced. ''Ideas are useless without talent,'' she thought.

That was why Masazumi turned her gaze away from the memo and looked at the clock. It was 10 AM. She would have been late on a normal day, but she hadn’t slept more than three hours. Furthermore…

…''Do not go to the Academy, huh.

Right now, out of all the Chancellor’s Officers and Student Council she was the only one retaining her authority. This was part of her father’s group’s plan to keep a grasp on the Academy’s rights. In other words…

…''I am just being a convenient piece.

Things moved at a rapid pace after Mikawa’s destruction last night. Musashi had a three-part constitutional government, consisting of the Academy, the Provisional Council and the King; but the strong point here was the link between the King and the Council. Under this state of emergency, if the King and Council were to withhold the rights of the Academy negotiations would be able to proceed at a fast pace and decisions made without including any inexperienced opinion; that is what they likely concluded.

From her viewpoint, it was just a coup d’etat by the King and Provisional Council on the Academy. But…

“…If that is the best for Musashi as it is now, there’s plenty of merit in abiding by it.”

Drawing a breath, Masazumi stood up from the sofa.

She lightly stretched her body, then drew another.

Picking up the pillow that fell from the sofa and placing it on the blanket, she looked at her uniform set on the opposite sofa.

She must have been tired this morning. The sleeves weren’t even ordered.

“But still, it doesn’t seem like Father will come back home…”

''Even if he did, I don’t think he’ll get mad looking at this situation. He’ll most likely keep being indifferent.'' This thought strongly existed in her mind.

“Anyway, breakfast.”

Masazumi headed towards the corridor. This house had an indoor bath, a rarity on Musashi. It would have been a waste, but she wanted to clean her body and wash off the sweat from sleeping.

She was free until the afternoon as long as she did not go near the Academy. To have breakfast under that condition…

…''The store where P-01s – Horizon – used to be, huh.

She would probably need to tell the shopkeeper about her story last night.

…''What will happen, I wonder.

She couldn’t do anything last night.

Even when she was being taken away, even when she left having realized her own existence.

“No… I wasn’t unable to do anything.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Masazumi murmured. In her head, she remembered a single movement.

It was that of the boy running over, the one who tried to do something even though he couldn’t do anything.

''Compared to him, I wonder what I am.

''My idleness was because I was thinking about Musashi’s position.

''Was that what my mistake was?'' Masazumi thought as she entered the corridor. Before she realized it, her gaze was on the memo she wrote lying on the table.

“Is everyone trying to save Horizon, I wonder…”

Proceedings were advancing in the classroom.

Heidi was leading the meeting, as expected. While placing her white fox Mouse, Erimaki, on her head…

“Then, first of all, let us ascertain the intentions of those who are not attending.”

She displayed the records of incoming divine mail to Erimaki, while making sure no one else saw the contents.

“Let’s see~ then~, hm, hmm, right now Azuma-kun and Miriam are being guarded by the bodyguard team and cannot leave the dorm. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to visit her place as well today. Also, wasn’t that ghost-like girl in Azuma-kun’s care? Let’s discuss that with the police when we have the chance.”

“Ah,” Urquiaga responded. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment.

“From what I see, she was quite attached to Azuma. I don’t know why they were stuck together inside the Academy; but she’s still a child, ghost or not. With someone who can pose no harm, nothing bad should happen so long as she does not separate from Azuma. He himself probably possesses a strong spiritual aspect being a half-god, so I don’t think it will affect him either.”

As if to warn, everyone nodded to his words.

“Well, from a moral standpoint, Azuma is not a lolicon like Ohiroshiki so it should be alright.”

“You got it wrong…!”

Ohiroshiki stood up from slightly farther back into the classroom while wiping his forehead with a towel.

“I am not a lolicon! My belief is one that belongs to the major ‘life worship’ that is described in the Testament and recreated in Europe, one that values the life force of the young!”

Ohiroshiki held his right arm out.

“…It is a crime to touch for lolicons; but for life-worshippers touching is a supreme deed equivalent to being in contact with God!”

“Right, right,” Heidi nodded.

“Would it be supreme for you to stay put while in school? Ah, if you get caught we don’t know each other, alright?”

“Hmm? Did I not explain it properly?”

Everyone ignored Ohiroshiki and looked in Heidi’s direction. As for Heidi, skillfully caressing below Erimaki’s neck above her head…

“Then, for the others, first is Seijun; but in reality she is the only one whose rights as vice president have not been taken away. Right now, Seijun is the sole person among the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers still possessing authority.”

“Masazumi-dono’s father is a member of the Provisional Council after all.”

Holding his arms together and lightly sitting on his seat, Tenzou continued.

“From the Provisional Council’s perspective, letting the compliant Masazumi-dono retain her position as if to represent the Student Council would make things easier in the future.”

“Yes, and you know? Because Seijun still has her rights we can’t hold a special general student meeting. If we were to hold one, the result would give us temporary authority; but school regulations dictate that everyone with such authority must be absent due to circumstances like war before we can hold such a meeting.”

“By retaining Masazumi’s position with her and having her on their side, the Provisional Council is not letting us have the special general student meeting, then.”

''Hmm.'' Everyone fell into thinking.

Then, from Heidi’s head, the white fox Erimaki clapped and brought up a signframe.

“Enemy?”

“Ah, h-hey, Erimaki, don’t say that.”

“But it does feel that way, from a positional aspect. They’re the ‘ones on the other side’ after all.”

Neshinbara spoke, accompanied by a long breath. He called out a civil official Mouse, and retrieved some data via signframe.

“Making enemies out of them would be serious trouble, you know? Honda-kun’s oration talents cannot be taken lightly. She had over 70% of the votes during the Student Council election, and the problem we’re facing is of a political nature. If something does happen that causes us to face off with Honda-kun, besting her would be a difficult act indeed.”

“Besides,” he continued:

“Just like her, Mitotsudaira-kun and Naomasa-kun are not here.”

“Yes,” Asama nodded. She looked at the Divine Mail reception log Hanami brought out.

“Masa is in Musashino’s central engine room meeting with the Engineering Club. Mito is, as expected, attending the feudal lord meeting of the landowners of the ship on Musashino as the student representative. But, the trouble with Mito is…”

Asama made eye contact with Heidi. As both nodded, Heidi shrugged her shoulders.

“If Horizon were to commit suicide, the Matsudaira family would disappear and Musashi’s residents would be transferred to the Far East settlement in Edo. If this happens, the temporarily succeeding Mito branch of the Matsudaira family will become the head family. In other words…the Mitotsudaira family will become the representative of the Testament Union-ruled Far East, as our lord.”

At those words, everyone looked at each other. Then everyone started whispering to each other…

“Long ago, as her name Mitotsudaira Nate was shortened to Mito Nate, she was made fun of by being called Mito Natto, right?”

“Well that was because she herself slipped up in shortening her name ‘Nate’ and wrote down something like ‘Nato’, no?”

“Oh, hell no. What if she still has a grudge from that time… She’ll definitely get a straw roll that looks like natto and have us do the Mino dance.”

“I wonder why everyone can suspect their own classmate, I wonder?”

Everyone’s whispers stopped at Heidi’s words.

“Disregarding that,” Heidi prefaced as she looked slightly up towards the ceiling along with the white fox on her head.

“Well, I think that we’re most likely going to have to talk to her about this. After all, after the Testament Union’s dispatch, Mito bought a plot of land and came here as a means of becoming a Far East citizen. Still, she retains her status as a knight; thus…”

“As one of the few in Musashi, she has permission to possess a weapon. And she’ll become quite the force when she uses it.”

''Hmm,'' thus everyone held their arms together.

“Long ago, she was super hostile and scary for some time, right? Now…just by how many times more can she be?”

“She’d be great as an ally, but if we are to fight her it’ll be all kinds of impossible.”

“Ah, I shouldn’t have called her Natto and stuff after all…”

“…As I said, why is everyone talking about all these guilty things?”

Heidi drew a breath.

“Well, let’s do our best to make her our ally. Then, um…”

Heidi turned to face Shirojiro who was on her side.

“Shiro-kun, is it fine now?”

Heidi faced Shirojiro, who was closing his work signframe, and stated:

“You know? …This is what I think the situation is. Musashi and Horizon are in a pinch, and with our authority taken we don’t seem to have a proper role. To abide by the Testament Union means voluntarily turning the Far East over to their control; but to oppose them will mean the crisis of all-out war with them.”

To Heidi’s call, Shirojiro sighed.

“Then, what do you want me to do?”

“Judge; from a businessman’s viewpoint, I’d like to hear the financial aspects of this situation, or something.”

“Even if you say that, I’m not that interested in that that much. I am busy at work after all.”

“You know, Shiro-kun? See, I think that this is a big business chance.”

Immediately after hearing that, Shirojiro straightened up his posture. Erimaki raised its legs and formed a signframe “Profit Meter” on Shirojiro’s head, filling five gauges in a second, with more coming in.

“Big business chance, is it! Hm, that sounds good! Money! Money, is it! Right, I’ve cleared my thoughts! Listen well, you bastards!”

Shirojiro, for some reason, stood facing towards the teacher’s desk and said:

“…I will now talk about money, which I love!”

“You’re the worst!”

In response to everyone’s punchline, Shirojiro turned around. Furthermore…

“Quieten down, my clients. See, I don’t always talk about money, but this is a conversation about money. It may not be, but I’ll make it such that it is. Understood?”

He made it clear what he is about to say. And then…

“Now, we are bargaining with the Testament Union for the safety of ourselves with our monarch Horizon’s life as well as Musashi on the line. That is our situation in my opinion.”

“See here,” Shirojiro said again.

“There is something we call ‘ransom’, a way in which things are settled with possessions like money or land, practiced in Europe. It happens quite often, say to have war prisoners returned or to compensate for a king or country’s mistakes. But in the Far East, there is a tendency to offer to throw one’s life away as a means of settlement, because of the shame. In that, we can think of this as the characteristic Far Eastern ‘life considerate financial economics’. Thus…”

He drew a breath.

“To the Far East, there is merit in loading an entire country’s responsibility onto its ruler’s life. By the cutting of his neck or stomach, his subordinates and people are guaranteed to be safe.”

In other words…

“The value of a monarch’s life in money is virtually similar to that of ownership of the country. Additionally, by ‘paying’ the other side with the monarch’s life, authority over the country can quickly be transferred and the safety and status of its people can be guaranteed. How the Far East is run, i.e. how it belongs to the emperor but management is left for the lords to handle, may have also played a part in giving rise to this process.”

Well then.

“For a monarch to pay with his life, a condition must be met. This is either,

'''1: At the end of a war, to guarantee the safety of the losing country.

'''2: After an irreparable mistake he made, to not burden the country with his responsibility.

'''3: Mood.

This is how it mostly is. Though considering things like coup d’etats as similar to 1 is glossing over a lot.

The reason many lords with little influence commit suicide is because they were so easily defeated in wars that would lead to 1. For 2 it’s usually because of the weak influence of the monarch, where payment by land is not possible.”

“Which one are we in now?”

In response to Heidi’s question, Shirojiro stated:

“The second one. The Far East neither invaded nor were they themselves attacked; but we did cause the loss of Mikawa, a land of importance to other countries. Moreover, Horizon holds a Logismoi Óplo which she cannot legally possess. Thus, by offering herself they will not be able to make efforts to put the blame on the Far East, and our safety will have to be guaranteed.”

“But,” Shirojiro continued.

“Mikawa was meant to fall in the first place. Even the outskirts and the bay, sooner or later they will be destroyed and swallowed up by the sea. It would just be that this method of destruction of Mikawa would not be beneficial to the Historical Recreation of the Testament.

“That is why after substituting Musashi for Mikawa we will move over to another Matsudaira territory in Edo. Then, we will return back to ‘Musashi’ as it is.”

Still, someone raised his voice. It was Tenzou, saying as he tilted his neck:

“Even if you say that, they cannot just suddenly alter the Edo settlement to accommodate us on such short notice.

“Lord Motonobu, along with IZUMO, has developed Edo specifically into a particular historical excavation site; but people are still leaving the place. We’ll have to find new places if that place is not big enough for all of Musashi’s residents, and there’s the problem with dealing with all the overwritten lands as well…”

“As well?”

As Shirojiro urged him on, Tenzou thought for a bit. Then, shrugging his shoulders…

“We’ll have to accommodate nearly a hundred thousand people, but… Where will we get the money to cover the expenses, considering the Musashi-Mikawa modification costs as well? For a population of 100,000 and an average of 5 per house, 20,000 houses would be needed. Also, until then…”

Tenzou brought out something covered in cloth. Held in his hand was…

“This is a camping tent complete with the essentials; a two-person version will cost up to 20,000 yen. For a 100,000 population to hold out while waiting for proper housing to be built, 50,000 of those will be needed… 1,000,000,000 yen. Other than that, we’ll have to set up water systems and toilets as well as a supply of food. How are we going to pay for those?”

“A source of income, is what you’re asking, right?”

Shirojiro stated, affirming with Tenzou.

“The people on the net are already in a panic as we speak. I’ll tell you what I know about that later. Right now, the Testament Union possesses a very large sum of money. You’ll do best to understand what I mean by that.”

That’s why…

“The Union is raring to do this; and for us on the other side, there will be lots of problems.”

“Heh heh heh. Miser, women will bomb all those problems as they come, you know?”

“You’ll explode, Aoi Sister. See here? The Testament Union is raring for this. They’re eager to become our enemy.”

But as a preface, Shirojiro said:

“…Now then, if we were to become enemies, let me tell you what will happen.”

“If,” Shirojiro stated.

To his side, a map of the Far East was displayed indicating the foreign settlements in each country.

“If the Testament Union were to become our enemy, Musashi will not be able to resupply at any of the Far Eastern foreign settlements that would become our ports. Do you know what this means?”

“…We won’t be able to trade? Is that it?”

Shirojiro closed his eyes at Heidi’s words.

“Almost correct. See here? Musashi’s most important trading item is food. Indeed, Musashi is a city that grows only 10% of its food, relying on importation for the rest. In other words, if they refuse to trade with us we will be in a hopeless situation.”

“…Hey, does Musashi not grow its own crops on the ship?”

It was not Shirojiro who answered the question Adele posed. Ohiroshiki did.

He stood up, wiping his sweat off with a towel.

“It’s impossible. I am part of the Cooking Club, and I know the people of the Agriculture Club caring for those plantations; so…”

Ohiroshiki called out a human-type Mouse draped in shrine maiden clothes from his pendant.

“Gu…she’s cute after all. Her design was done quite well, don’t you think?”

“Whatever, just talk! Are you falling for your Mouse as well?”

“Gu…!” Ohiroshiki grumbled, but later recovered after his Mouse calmed him down. As she produced a number of sign frames and graphs with the brush in her hand…

“It is hard to grow crops by hydroponics on Musashi, so wheat is grown in soil. According to the Testament, in this era the average European would consume over 600 grams of food per day including their staple, bread. In that case, for Dinkel wheat which yields an average of 20 grains per head, about 20 ares will be needed to feed one person for a year. That’s a 20 by 100 meter area.”

“Do we really need that much land!?”

“Well, this is where the Testament’s interpretation comes in.”

Ohiroshiki held his arms as if to hold the air, then suddenly crashed it.

“If we were to compare the land of the Far East with that of the whole Earth, we’ll find that the Far East is 1/394 the size of the Earth; so the Testament makes up for that by amplifying whatever we could harvest from our land by 394 times. Considering that, the agricultural land that will be needed to feed one person with staple food for a year will shorten down to five square meters. That would be three tatami mats, or four if you count the ridges, in Far East terms. The Far East has a climate adjusted to grow rice, so it’s not that suitable to start planting wheat here; but a lot of other countries have wheat as their staple food. In that case, the overwritten lands that hold the suitable climate to grow wheat will become important for practical use, thus giving rise to this interpretation.”

Everyone began to use their sign frames and fingers to calculate the area, as well as look outside into the school area to imagine how big the area mentioned would be. In that situation, Kimi paused her hands which were still cutting out the magazine and looked around.

“Oh? Are you not done yet?”

“T-this woman is the worst! And she’s more than ten years old! What a hag…”

“Ah!” Ohiroshiki exclaimed. Receiving cold smiles from all the women in his class, he hung his head.

After a while, with his Mouse tapping on his shoulder, he resumed.

“…Well, you know, the agriculture may be condensed but Musashi still has a hundred thousand people. Thus, even with four tatami mats per person we’ll need 400,000 mats.”

''How quick,'' everyone said, holding their heads.

Adele put out a calculation signframe in a hurry.

“Then, for 400,000 mats, umm, the standard underground residential block’s two-person room would have four mats, so the area…”

“The area would be 660,000 square meters.”

Seeming to have done such calculations in the past, Ohiroshiki answered without looking at anything. Then…

“The standard hull of Musashi is no more than 1040 meters long and 144 meters wide per ship. Even if you dedicate a whole level into agriculture, you’ll get only about 155,000 square meters. We will require 4.3 levels for agriculture to sustain us.

“For a semiannual crop we’ll need over two levels. For a three-harvest crop, 1.5, but food isn’t just limited to staples. If we consider livestock and vegetables, there is no way we can increase the size of the animals; and it’ll be hard to cultivate vegetables in a dense manner. Particularly, to feed one person with enough livestock we’ll need more than two times the size of the area of wheat as pasture, and we can’t harvest animals more than once per year.

“Moreover, considering the storage of water needed for the crops, storehouses for the harvests and storage for the livestock feed… The Cooking Club’s trial calculation came to a requirement of nearly 20 levels, but the only ships on Musashi long enough and with enough levels are the third left and right ships with 15 levels each. Devoting one of them completely to agriculture won’t be enough; and from a personnel aspect, getting new people onto the Musashi for the sole purpose of the agricultural industry is impossible. We’re essentially establishing a new outer town for the sake of supporting the 100,000 people in our own.

“The present agricultural sector here is focusing on developing improved crops for trade, so we can’t just use it for something else.”

''I see,'' everyone murmured. Adele, who had asked that question, dropped her shoulders.

“I feel like I lost to Ohiroshiki-san for some reason today…”

That moment, everyone affirmed and followed through with her.

“…Don’t mind it. No one would have thought that man would be in the Cooking Club rather than the Eroge Research Association.”

“Continuously calling out to little girls while hiding such a weapon in him…”

“Someone please put him in his place.”

“W-why are you all so harsh with me!?”

“Hmm, no one would hold back against a stranger with a fault, right, everyone?”

“So long as money is not involved,” affirmed Shirojiro. Gesturing thanks to the seated Ohiroshiki with one hand, he continued.

“Musashi’s emergency reserves will only last two weeks. We’ll eventually run out if we try to escape, and any negotiation that may lead to trade will be clearly visible.”

“T-then…”

Adele leaned back her body and looked to the ceiling.

“In the end, we’ll eventually be out if we were to oppose the Testament Union.”

''Haa.'' To those words mixed with a sigh, there was a word, ‘but’, in response.

“Oh my, is that so?”

It was Kimi, turning her body. Continuing to cut out the questionnaire corner with the scissors, she said without looking at anyone:

“You guys, you are not an unorganized mob, so do pull yourselves together for my sake. …The miser over there, stop being mean and tell us… What do we do?”

“I see that the key thing to do is simple. …We oppose the Testament Union, while protecting other Far Eastern settlements in each country and reserving our right to trade.”

“Just like that, huh!!”

Everyone slipped in the punch line. Then Adele…

“…Uh, can we do something that convenient?”

“I told you, no? I cannot give a conclusion from any viewpoint other than that of a businessman, but I can say stuff from a businessman’s standpoint. Everyone else should be the same; each of us has our own unique set of knowledge, skills and strengths, and the force that assembles these together and utilizes them… That’s what we call government.”

“Thus,” he said, looking out the window. His gaze led to the southern sky. On the other side of the sky, where a red light went up to the heavens from the Ley Lines every now and then, there is a land port. With his gaze remaining in that direction.

“There is only one method: that is to bring the one affiliated with the Provisional Council, Honda Masazumi, over to our side. Being associated with that group, she should understand the arrangements of the Testament Union. That is why, to refute the legalities of the opponent… We’ll wait until the moment we have the right to oppose them.”

“S-Shiro-kun…that scene just now may be quite cool!”

“…Hmph, do it properly and we will profit! It should not fail! The publicity resulting from opposing the Testament Union is the best! They are the ones publicizing all of this on their own after all!”

''You are too honest with yourselves,'' everyone said, looking down at them as Heidi asked Shirojiro a question.

“Shiro-kun, but… Is there a way to get Seijun over to our side?”

“There is. But, before that…”

Shirojiro turned around and pointed to the back of the class with his chin.

The chair furthest back, by the window. Over there was…

“Toori-kun…”

His figure, in its uniform adorned with chains slumped over the desk on which the sun shone brightly, was still not moving.

“Even with rights or whatever; …If this idiot of a chancellor and president brings us down we won’t be able to do anything.”

At Shirojiro’s words, everyone brought about a deep atmosphere of silence.

''What do we do?'' Everyone’s eyes met. ''What should we do?'' they inquired without a sound.

At that moment…

“…Right, I hope you’re not thinking of anything dangerous!”

A woman’s voice came from the corridor.

Taken aback, everyone turned to look at the door. Standing there was a female teacher, her figure dressed in a jersey.

Everyone looked at her.

“Oriotorai-sensei…!?”

Oriotorai showed a smile to Shirojiro, who retreated from in front of the teacher’s desk.

“Well, there is a lot to think about isn’t there? For now, we’re doing class work in homeroom.”

Then Oriotorai brought out a pile of paper from the latch on her hip and placed it on the teacher’s desk. Resounding their weight as they were placed there, those paper copies were…

“Manuscript paper. …For this morning, I’ll have you write an essay.”

“…Essay?”

“Yep, you have one and a half hours. For the rest of the time, I plan to have one of you read out their work.”

Oriotorai did not mind the ‘Geh’ sounds everyone made, showing a grin.

“The title will be ‘What I Want to Do’. Right now, everyone is thinking only about what we should do, right? While it may cool your heads, this exercise is important as well. And now, before anything…”

Oriotorai went over to the staff-use table and switched on the monitor on the shelf. A torii-type signframe appeared; before an image could clear up the static on the monitor, she looked at everybody.

Towards everyone, who wondered what she wanted to show them, Oriotorai remained smiling.

“I’m sure everyone is thinking about ‘What I Want to Do’ right now. Just for a bit, this will become a hint from a recent-development aspect, I think. So watch carefully. Look at the result.”

An image projected.

It was the scene atop a hill, where people wearing three different kinds of uniforms lined up.

“K.P.A. Italia, Tres España, as well as the Far East Defense Unit that arrived from Mikawa. These three forces are meeting each other to exchange information. …This broadcast is aiming to depict the Testament Union as friendly to the residents of Musashi and Mikawa.”

“But,” she said.

“In this meeting, there will be something Tres España will return to the Far East.”

“…What would that be?”

“The Divine Weapon, ‘Tonbokiri’.”

Oriotorai’s smile became something that remained only at the tip of her mouth.

“Now what will happen, I wonder. The one that will receive it is Lord Tadakatsu’s daughter, Honda Futayo. What the arguably unparalleled female warrior in the Far East will do, and what will happen; watch it with your eyes, and start thinking.”

A moment.

“About ‘What I Want to Do’ right now.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter_22.5|Chapter 22.5 Study]]
| [[Horizon:Volume_1B_Chapter_24|Chapter 24]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter 31

2016-03-19T23:43:11Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 31: As I Stand at the Last Moment */

==Chapter 31: As I Stand at the Last Moment==
[[Image:Horizon1B_303.jpg|thumb]]
''What has been decided

''Without being decided?

''What is understood

''Without being understood?

'''Point Allocation (Gaze)

Several people were gathered at a table near the Tres Españan tent set up on a grassy field.

They were not all sitting around the table. With Muneshige and Gin in the center, about a dozen people were gathered as if taking a group photo. They held a bag of popcorn made with corn from the New World as they watched the ''cadena firma'' open in front of Muneshige and Gin.

The audio and video footage displayed the situation of the Special General Student Meeting as transmitted by the Ariadust Academy Broadcast Committee.

Currently, a Broadcast Committee reporter wearing a golden kamishimo over his uniform spoke in the center of the screen.

“Now, the final battle of the Special General Student Meeting has begun! This battle is between the Student Council president and vice president; but what do you think as a classmate, stealth commentator Tenzou-san?”

“Hmm. Good question. Toori-dono appears to have the advantage due to that unexpected beginning, but it is difficult to know what he’s thinking.”

“I see. He really is a human bomb that could go off at any time. Based on the uniform color, I suppose he would be a black powder bomb. At any rate, I hope the two of them will make this an excellent general student meeting.”

“Master Muneshige, don’t you find this type of agitating commentary to be rather annoying?” asked Gin.

“I just hope all their agitation doesn’t lead to a knockout from a low blow.”

Everyone glared at the couple as if to say “that’s not the issue”, but neither one showed any sign of caring.

Meanwhile, they saw movement on the bridge visible on the screen. After receiving advice from their respective groups, the two competitors climbed back up the stairs. One was oddly cheerful and the other appeared exhausted.

“Now, the battle of destiny is about to begin for both sides!”

Just as everyone eagerly clenched their fists and leaned in close, the student in charge of divine transmissions carried over a message.

The group looked curiously at the message, but their expressions soon changed.

“…?”

And then they changed again.

“…!?”

They quickly turned back toward the screen and saw the debate was just about to begin.

“K.P.A. Italia is definitely going to intervene now,” groaned Muneshige. “They’ll have no other choice once they learn what Princess Horizon’s Logismoi Óplo does.”

Masazumi thought atop the bridge.

The debate was beginning.

…''But why am I on this side?

She had never expected to oppose her father and the others like this.

She wanted to find a way out of it, but the simple route was off limits. If she made a mistake, she would end up on the receiving end of the practice swings Oriotorai was making. She could not let that happen. She had a feeling that had to be avoided at all costs.

For an instant, she contemplated declaring her loss and accepting Aoi’s victory; but that would not be a debate. And if she broke the rules of the debate, the practice swings would become reality.

And so she had to think.

She honestly felt the Provisional Council was on the side of the proper future.

After all, the gathered secretaries had told her what the Council had said the night before.

…''In an all-out war against the Testament Union, there’s nothing we can do.

The Testament Union covered almost the entire world. P.A. Oda had partially left, but they had constructed a contact point for resolving wars. Also, the other eastern and northern non-Tsirhc and non-Mlasi nations received support from the Testament Union in order to survive in that harsh land. That support required some acceptance of their culture.

What would happen in all-out war?

Aoi cheerfully answered that question as he stood before her. He turned toward the others as he did.

“Y’see, if everything goes well and we rescue Horizon, the Italians who lead the Testament Union will feel disgraced. I think they’d be pissed enough to start a war. And that would be bad. After all, the Testament Union is kind of like the entire world. We would be at war until we defeated the entire world.”

…''That’s exactly what I heard from the secretaries last night.

Someone must have given Aoi a hint just now.

He then blatantly unfolded a cheat sheet and spoke as if reading a proclamation.

“War is a big deal. What will you do about that, Seijun?”

He suddenly turned the debate over to her.

She had known this would happen. He had given a reason why rescuing Horizon would be a bad idea, so she had to give reasons why it would be advantageous and methods of avoiding the negative side.

But she had nothing prepared. She had assumed she would stand on the Council’s side, so she had only thought about how to persuade the Academy.

And so she spoke while feeling warm sweat cover her body.

“Well…uh…”

“Seijun-kun, speak up or I can’t hear you.”

…''I am going to kill this moron!

To keep her anger from exploding out, she turned toward the port side where her classmates were whispering to her in the schoolyard.

“Don’t worry about it! He’s just an idiot! He really is!”

As she wondered what it was about him that was so unifying, Masazumi thought for a while and then spoke.

“Th-then I will give you the advantages to rescuing Horizon.”

She took a breath and said what she had thought up just now.

“The greatest advantage is securing Musashi’s sovereignty.”

Sovereignty.

Aoi tilted his head when he heard the word.

“Eh? Sovereignty? What’s that?”

Everyone else was tilting their head just like him, so Masazumi answered.

“Sovereignty is a way of perceiving the essence of a nation. It comes from the history recreation of Hexagone Française. …All of us belong to a nation such as the Far East, K.P.A. Italia, Tres España, or P.A. Oda, right? But what exactly is it we refer to as a nation?”

“Well, it has land and people…”

“You are referring to the territory and citizens that a nation must have, correct?”

But…

“With only those two things, you simply have people gathered in a certain land. They have no justification in opposing a foreign invasion.”

“No justification?” Aoi frowned. “Sure they do. If they’re invaded, people will die. The other side’s evil.”

“The other side has a justification as well. The invasion will allow their nation to prosper.”

“Eh? But that ain’t right.”

Aoi folded his arms and asked the crowd “don’t you agree?” before turning back to Masazumi.

“Why don’t they think about the ones being invaded? It’s almost like…”

“Almost like?”

“Like the ones being invaded are animals being hunted.”

“That’s right,” said Masazumi. She spread her arms toward the crowd. “No thought is given to the ones being invaded because they lack the ‘sovereignty’ that puts them on an equal level to the invading nation. In other words, a nation without sovereignty is not viewed as a ‘nation’ by the other nations and the people there are not viewed as ‘people’. The land is nothing but a gathering spot for beasts.”

She took a breath and recalled what she had seen in the books she read.

“Three abilities are needed for a nation to claim its sovereignty:

'''“1. The ability to demonstrate independence and thus be equal to other nations.

'''“2. The ability to rule the nation’s territory and citizens and thus maintain the nation.

'''“3. The ability to make decisions and thus support the previous two.

“These three are known as external sovereignty, internal sovereignty, and absolute decision-making power. With these three abilities, a nation is equal to other nations, rules itself, and has the power necessary. In other words, it is accepted as an independent nation and any threats will be in between nations and thus illegal.”

Masazumi took a breath.

“Currently, the Far East has had most of its territory and people taken and the three abilities needed for sovereignty are being restricted.”

“Really?”

…''Yes, you idiot!

After her silent shout, Masazumi sighed inwardly.

“Our chancellor and Student Council president should have absolute decision-making power, but the Testament Union is interfering with his decisions.”

“Oh, they supported me, so I didn’t realize. Was that interference?”

“It may be indirect, but it is still interference. And there is a lot more, too.” She lowered her shoulders. “Take external sovereignty for example. If we can’t resist their interference, we aren’t exactly equal to the other nations, are we?”

“That’s true.”

…''See?

“As for internal sovereignty, most of the Far East is under provisional rule, the reservations are influenced by the nation that rules the territory, and Musashi is on the verge of having its authority stripped at the hands of another nation. That means we fail to rule our territory and citizens as the foundation of internal sovereignty.”

“That’s true.”

…''Does he really understand?

Despite her doubts, she could only continue on. And so she slowly pointed to the south. She pointed strongly toward empty air in order to bring to mind the land port and Horizon who was there.

“Horizon is the legitimate heir to Mikawa and the Matsudaira clan which will eventually rule the Far East. And currently, the Testament Union has forbidden Mikawa’s ruler from boarding the Musashi. That is part of their influence over us.”

But…

“But if we rescue Horizon, Musashi will gain a ruler of the Far East with no Testament Union influence.”

“That can’t happen,” immediately declared Aoi. He then nodded. “That’s being too naïve.”

“Naïve? How is it naïve?”

Masazumi gathered strength in her gaze as she stared at him.

He unfolded another cheat sheet and then frowned.

“Listen. U-um, if Horizon does not enter the student’s body… What kind of erotic stuff is this!? Koni-tan, I wanted something serious!”

“That clearly says ‘student body’. How did you imagine up the ‘apostrophe s’?”

“No peeking!! A-and what’s wrong with the student’s body!? I want to enter the student’s body too! …Wait! But nothing said it was a female body!”

“…You never cease to amaze me.”

“C’mon, enough compliments. I don’t want you falling for me that easily.”

Denying it would only confuse matters further, so Masazumi remained silent.

As everyone watched him, the idiot struck a pose.

“Listen. If Horizon does not enter the student body, she can’t use her decision-making power. In this student-driven world, all decision-making authority lies with the academies. Plus, Mikawa’s ruler isn’t allowed on the Musashi, right?”

“With Mikawa destroyed, we can say the ruler has evacuated to the Musashi. And Horizon may not be part of the student body now, but she can always join the Academy.”

“Can she really pass the entrance exam?”

Aoi’s comment produced booing from the girls on the port side.

“That was very rude!!” shouted Asama as their representative. “Don’t you agree, everyone!?”

“What!? You’re one to talk, Asama! You’re way ruder every time you show those gigantic boobs of yours to someone as pure as me! No matter how much I try to look away, they always find their way into my field of vision. It’s silent sexual violence. I’ve had no choice but to lighten your crimes by staring enough for everyone!”

“Let’s see. Where did I put my bow?”

“Don’t jump up the stairs like that!!”

“Aoi, you really like causing infighting, don’t you?”

While realizing she was glaring at him with half-lidded eyes, Masazumi moved the conversation on.

“She does not need to take the entrance exam.”

“Wait just a second.” Aoi waved his hands back and forth. “No more backdoor admissions. We already have imperial boy.”

In a small room, Azuma and Miriam each held one of a small girl’s hands. They were positioned on either side of the girl while lying in a bed. Miriam was watching the sign frame Azuma had opened in the bed space.

“Azuma, don’t tell me…”

“I-I didn’t! That was just one of Aoi-kun’s unfunny jokes!”

“Aoi has made an unexpected attack,” said the commentator. “Without Azuma-sama present, Masazumi might be in trouble.”

“Well, if you say so, I will believe you,” said Miriam.

“Backdoor?” said a new voice.

The small girl had opened her eyes.

Azuma and Miriam exchanged a glance before looking at the girl’s unfocused eyes.

“Do you know who I am?”

The girl looked toward Miriam but tilted her head.

“Who…?”

Miriam smiled bitterly and Azuma spoke to the girl.

“Where is mama? Do you know?”

The girl looked up into the air and thought for a few seconds. She finally shook her head with faintly glowing tears in her eyes.

“Mama…”

“Azuma, why are you making her cry? Honestly.”

Miriam placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and gently drew her close.

It was an awkward movement, but the girl let Miriam embrace her while still holding Azuma’s hand.

Miriam nodded toward the girl’s suppressed crying and uncomfortable movements.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

As the girl clung to her as if trying to sink into her, Miriam nodded again.

“I’m mama. I’ll be your mama.”

She embraced the girl’s back and raised her head a bit. She looked at Azuma with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“C’mon, papa. What’s the matter?”

“Eh? I…I…”

“Azuma.”

With her eyes narrowed in a slight smile, she spoke with the same tone as Azuma had when he urged Miriam earlier.

“It’s your turn, Azuma.”

He groaned slightly, but finally gave in and adjusted his grip on the girl’s hand.

“I’m papa.”

The girl nodded in Miriam’s arms.

Miriam then mouthed a question to Azuma while indicating the sign frame with her gaze.

“Did you take the entrance exam?”

“I did. There was another way in, though.”

“You mean a backdoor?”

“No.” He frantically shook his head. “There is another legitimate way into the Academy without taking the entrance exam.”

“That’s right. You can join the Academy without taking a standard entrance exam.”

As Masazumi spoke below the afternoon sky, Aoi tilted his head.

“Seriously? What way is there other than the written exam?”

She immediately answered him.

“The special talent exam.”

Masazumi mentally nodded at the silence that followed her statement.

…''There are few examples on the Musashi.

But that was a way in for people who excelled at combat, spells, or the arts. That exam method had even been used by some of her classmates.

“Ha ha ha. Nenji-kun, that was how we got in, wasn’t it!?”

“Yes. Because our very existences are valuable!”

“By the way, I did not use that method,” commented Hassan despite no one asking. “I am perfectly normal. In other words, I am medium-spicy.”

At any rate, Horizon could join the Academy using the special talent exam.

However…

“Wait, wait. What is Horizon’s special talent? Working at a bakery?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The Logismoi Óplo.”

Masazumi realized how outrageous her statement was.

“There are only nine in existence and she owns one and is one, so that more than qualifies as a valuable talent. Am I wrong?”

In front of the Tres Españan tent, Gin grabbed popcorn with chopsticks.

“That is ridiculous.”

“But it is a valid line of thinking, Gin. The Logismoi Óplo are indeed valuable.”

“Testament. In other words, you wish to transfer to Musashi. Is that what you are saying, Master Muneshige?”

“U-um, no…”

Everyone glared at Muneshige while he struggled to find something to say.

Amid them all, Gin shoved some popcorn toward Muneshige’s mouth using her chopsticks.

As everyone’s eyes narrowed further, he drew back a bit, but the chopsticks pursued him.

“Gin, wh-what are you doing?”

“You must not flee before the enemy.”

The ''cadena firma'' then displayed Musashi Ariadust’s vice president.

“If she became a student, Matsudaira’s ruler would hold a higher position than the King of Musashi sent by the Testament Union. Not only would she be a student, but Musashi is only a portion of Matsudaira territory.”

As everyone shifted their focus to the vice president, Muneshige ate the popcorn off of the chopsticks.

“Ah.”

Gin’s eyebrows rose after missing the crucial instant.

“H-how about we focus on listening for now?” he said. “After all, these people might become our enemies.”

“To sum up,” said Masazumi. To make sure everyone could see, she spread her arms in a pose of acceptance. “If Horizon is returned to Musashi, the Far East will gain a ruler free of influence from other nations. That will secure our sovereignty and finally make us equal to the other nations.”

“But…” Aoi tilted his head. “Won’t the Testament Union want to stop that at all costs?”

“Yes. They will try to stop it. Gaining sovereignty will make the Far East a lot harder for them to rule. That is why saying we will not rescue Horizon is the same as saying that we do not want sovereignty and that we are accepting their rule.”

From the Testament Union’s perspective, Far Eastern sovereignty was only a bad thing.

“If the Far East does proclaim its sovereignty, the Testament Union nations will be unable to continue their provisional rule over it and the other nations will be forced to leave the islands of the Far East. However, the world beyond the ocean has a harsh and wild environment. They will want to avoid being driven out there. That is why they will refuse to recognize our sovereignty. They will use the Harmonic Unification War’s peace treaty to insist we do not have that right. They will say our sovereignty is in violation of the treaty.”

In other words…

“Even if we rescue Horizon and proclaim our sovereignty, it will produce a struggle for existence between the Testament Union and us. We will insist we have been freed from provisional rule while they will accuse us of violating the treaty.” Masazumi shrugged. “And thus rescuing Horizon and gaining sovereignty is a double-edged sword.”

“I see.”

Masazumi saw Aoi nod yet again.

As he continued to nod, he suddenly raised his right index finger.

“So if we rescue Horizon, war is inevitable?”

He pulled a new cheat sheet out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see.

“Then I have a question from Konishi-kun the merchant!” He went on to read the question. “Even if we rescue the princess and achieve Far Eastern sovereignty, a war could cause deaths. What are your thoughts on this? …Okay, do you have an answer, Seijun-kun!?”

“When did you become the MC?” she asked as she thought.

…''Deaths, hm?

They would be an inevitable product of war. While thinking it was odd to refer to deaths as a “product”, she realized something. There was something odd about the question.

Namely, the person who had given it.

…''The Konishi family is a Far Eastern merchant family that converted to Catholicism.

Merchants thought in terms of money, so why was he asking about the deaths a war would produce?

…''It is a calculation and comparison of “numbers”.

Masazumi now understood the intention behind this question.

“Aoi, war will produce deaths. That is a given. However, did you give any thought to the ''deaths produced by avoiding war''?”

“What? Avoiding war produces deaths too?”

Masazumi nodded in response.

“Yes. Avoiding war will also produce deaths.”

…''I’m really beginning to oppose my father and the Council now.

But she could not stop speaking. This opinion was a necessary part of her side.

“Listen. The budgets of the different reservations act as the Far East’s finances and they have all been frozen. The Testament Union will eventually take it all away and it is currently April. Do you understand what that means? The fiscal year has only just begun for the Far East, so the reservations’ budgets were almost entirely untouched. But now the Testament Union has seized most of it. Do you understand what that means?” asked Masazumi again. “The reservations are in their least funded state. And all public funding for public projects, hospitals, crime prevention, water, sewage, etc. has been stopped. The hospitals are the biggest problem. If they are not functioning, people cannot be treated and medicine will be unavailable.”

Also…

“The less money in the reservations as a whole, the less money the people will have, which will bring poverty. To increase the amount of money, they will have to gather foreign currency; but they cannot produce very much without money.”

“Meaning…?”

“The poverty will only worsen with time and the people will approach death as they are unable to maintain a normal lifestyle. Those are the deaths that will be produced by avoiding war here.”

“Th-then…” began Aoi in opposition. “The people can leave the reservations and join the nations controlling them.”

“That is exactly what the Testament Union wants.” Masazumi nodded. “They will almost certainly provide assistance for anyone joining. They will assist in the religious conversion and the language barrier. Doing so will be a huge boon for the Testament Union.”

“A boon? Wouldn’t a bunch of new people be a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily. They would have laborers to work almost as cheaply as slaves and they could forcibly solve the problems caused by the segregation in the harmonic territories. And most importantly, the Far East has technology.”

She spread her arms wide toward the sky as she spoke.

“Have you forgotten about the giant aerial ship known as the Musashi? In order to reproduce the Ame no Torifune of Far Eastern mythology mentioned in the Testament descriptions, the Far East is much more advanced than the other nations in aerial ship technology and related fields.”

She paused for a second.

“That aerial ship technology is what the other nations want the most.”

The people of Musashi listened to Masazumi across the ship.

“Once the provisional rule was put in place after the Harmonic Unification War, the Far East created the Musashi as its own territory. The other nations were allowed to take part and sharing our aerial ship technology was used to aid our war negotiations. The Musashi became a trade ship that traveled on the borderlines between nations and our development grew even more focused on the aerial field due to being freed from researching and developing weaponry. IZUMO is the Far East’s great corporate union and the leading force behind constructing the Musashi. As its name suggests, it was always focused on the fields related to the sky.”

Everyone listened.

“But the technology used in the Great Remodeling of the Musashi ten years ago was not shared with the Testament Union because Mikawa had allied with P.A. Oda. We did not share our powerful stealth system or our emergency gravitational cruising system, so the other nations want them. For example, the K of K.P.A. Italia stands for Kure. In the Far East’s aerial ship industry, Kure is second only to IZUMO. K.P.A. Italia is on the inland sea, so they expected to decline during the Age of Exploration and secured income by controlling Kure and building ships for other nations. They would want nothing more than the Musashi’s current technology. Also…”

By Tres España’s tent, Muneshige, Gin, and the others held their breath as they listened to Masazumi.

“In accordance with the history recreation, Tres España will soon enter a war against England. During that war, Tres España will send out their Grande y Felicísima Armada made up of 130 warships.”

But…

“But the history recreation means that armada will lose and ironically be referred to as the ‘Invincible Armada’. To carry this out, England has been receiving technological assistance from IZUMO.”

Gin nodded and spoke.

“The Far East island of Tsushima was too small for England, so they built their nation on the floating island they brought from the Harmonic Divine States. As such, England acted as an intermediary between the Far East and the other nations during the Harmonic Unification War. They were heavily involved in the construction of the Musashi and still maintain strong connections to IZUMO.”

“But,” said Musashi’s vice president over the divine transmission. “I doubt Tres España is simply planning to lose to England and its Far Eastern technology. By winning the battle, producing a truly ‘Invincible Armada’, and yet surrendering, they can achieve a political victory while preserving the history recreation. And if they had the technology needed to expand and strengthen their Invincible Armada, they would gain more power later.”

Sakai, “Musashi”, and “Shinagawa” walked toward the Musashi using the gangway connecting the Musashi to a barge from the specialized land port.

As the wind from the bottom of the valley rustled their clothing, they heard Masazumi’s voice coming from the Musashi.

“Furthermore, aerial ships can transport land goods and personnel. With the Thirty Years’ War approaching, M.H.R.R. and Hexagone Française will want this technology, but so would Qing and Russia. Ships that can pass over tall mountains are rare, but the Musashi can accomplish that in its current form.”

“Musashi” raised her head to look up at the giant ship that could be referred to as her true body.

“Masazumi-sama knows a surprising amount about us. The conditions for gravitational cruising are quite strict, so it is almost never used.”

“It looks like she has a fairly nerdy side to her.”

As Sakai smiled, the wind and the girl’s voice arrived.

“If the people of the Far East join the Testament Union nations, they will obtain the methods, technology, ports, and fuel they need to build and use ships like the Musashi. Rather than spending long years researching and developing the technology for themselves, they can obtain all the knowledge and technology in a much shorter time for much less money.”

“Then,” said Aoi. “Why not let that happen? We can make a triumphant return with our technology. If you add in the people’s revolution that Nate mentioned before, we’d be in pretty good standing, right? It sounds great, doesn’t it?”

“For the technical workers and aerial ship workers, yes. But who can say about the others. If they try to go with the truth of the revolution, it’s possible they could be trapped inside the poor reservations.” Masazumi formed a fake smile. “Listen. The reservations will grow very poor before any of this would happen. There would likely be opposition from the people who do not want to join the other nations or convert to those nations’ religions. Even if it does not develop into war, there will be deaths. And these deaths will come from the normal citizens of all the reservations rather than students.”

She spread her arms and asked him if he understood a few times.

“You might be trying to avoid war by not rescuing Horizon, but the reservations will end up paying the price. Those are the ''deaths produced by avoiding war''. Are you saying deaths caused by deficient social services and poverty are okay as long there are no direct deaths from war? That is nothing more than avoiding the deaths before your eyes and writing off the unseen deaths as ‘unavoidable’!”

Just as she began to advance further with her argument, Aoi cut in.

“Wait just a second.”

He held out his opened right hand to stop her, pulled a few cheat sheets from his pocket, and held up one of them.

“Um, let’s see… You’re saying my choice will produce deaths even if we don’t go to war, right?”

“Judge. Exactly. When faced with war, insisting that avoiding war will lead to peace is no more than turning a blind eye to the future.”

“I see.” He nodded directly at her, but immediately continued speaking. “Then I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If we do not rescue Horizon, the Testament Union’s rule will further advance and people will die. But rescuing her will cause war. We have two options: accept that quiet rule or oppose it and fight for freedom. In that case…”

He suddenly pulled a new cheat sheet from his pocket.

Immediately afterwards, Masazumi heard him read a name.

“This question is from Masanobu-kun the politician!”

“…!?”

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard her father’s name.

And then she heard her father’s question.

“If we do rescue Princess Horizon, we will need a just cause to present to the Testament Union. Without one, they can rightfully claim we are violating our treaty. What is our justified reason for rescuing the princess? What puts the Testament Union in the wrong for forcing her suicide?”

“An excellent question and an excellent demand,” muttered Innocentius on the deck of the K.P.A. Italia ship Regno Unito. “The biggest problem for us would not be the Far East insisting on a justice that only they agree to. It would be a reason that makes the rest of the world view us as evil for ruling them.”

After all…

“Rulers fear being seen as evil more than anything else. If that happens, other countries will ally themselves with the Far East to prove they are not evil and protect their own image.”

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Innocentius turned toward Galileo.

“Thirty years ago, the Far East did exactly that to me and I lost.” He sat up and faced the ''cornice firma'' in front of him. “Now, what will they do? Can they find the words that will actually damage us rather than giving a convenient excuse for themselves?” He took a breath. “If they can, the Far East will truly have been my enemy for twenty years straight.”

Masazumi understood.

…''A justification, hm?

Everything she had said so far was from the Far East’s point of view.

Those ideas might benefit the Far East, but they were nothing but evil from the Testament Union’s perspective.

For the Testament Union to accept the Far East’s opinion, they needed to be “correcting the Testament Union’s mistake”.

If they could convince the Testament Union that they were wrong, an all-out war could be avoided.

At the very least, the nations that agreed would not oppose the Far East.

…''But…

She thought.

…''Is there a justification like that?

As if to follow through on that question, she heard a voice.

Aoi began to read something written on his cheat sheet.

The words were spoken in Aoi’s voice, but they were clearly her father’s words.

“Once war begins, it will continue until both sides make peace. Alternatively, it could continue until one side has been annihilated. If war does begin, the reservations will certainly be taken hostage.”

He continued.

“The princess’s ‘suicide’ is only natural for a ruler of this era. If we prohibit it, we will be criticized by the other nations. We will lose all allies and continue fighting until our destruction.”

So…

“If we cannot present a justification for saving the princess that even the Testament Union will accept, everyone will turn against us.”

And so her father asked his question by proxy.

“Do you have a just cause for rescuing the princess? Do you have a justification?”

Masazumi gulped.

…''Well…

“Can one as inexperienced as you answer this question!?”

Aoi’s shout caused her to tremble.

She shrank back, held her breath, and lost all strength for a moment.

Her raised hands lowered and dangled limply by her sides.

As she lowered her head slightly, she realized she looked like a scolded child.

But as her left hand dangled next to her waist, she felt something.

It produced a dry sound.

She then heard a voice from the port side. It was Suzu’s quiet and shrill voice.

“Masa…zumi…!?”

Suzu shook her shoulders and faced Masazumi.

Amid the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers, she was supported by Asama as she looked up at Masazumi on the bridge.

“U-um, M-Masazumi. Masazumi!”

She raised her voice.

“Wh-when your hand…t-touched your clothes…it…it made a noise!”

Masazumi faced her from the bridge. She slowly and weakly gave a questioning expression.

“It…it sounded like paper!” said Suzu.

While supporting her, Asama looked up in surprise. She looked blankly at Masazumi and spoke with a hint of question in her tone.

“Masazumi, do you have a cheat sheet like Toori-kun!?”

Masazumi’s expression changed. Her eyebrows shot up, her mouth spread outward, and she started to say something, but then she frantically reached into the pocket binder at her waist.

“Th-this is…”

She pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It may have been a note because it had something written on it.

But she did not spread it out.

“This is…”

As she held it in both hands, strength filled her elbows. Her right elbow moved up and her left down. It was as if she were trying to tear it in half.

“This is…!”

Masazumi tried to tear apart the paper in her hands.

This was the countermeasure note for this incident that she had put together in the early morning.

It contained her own countermeasure based on her own decisions and the information from the Provisional Council’s secretaries.

…''It was written there.

Her countermeasure had included a means of justifying their actions and even what the Musashi should do afterwards.

They were all her own ideas, but that brought a certain question to her mind.

…''Can one as inexperienced as me give this answer!?

She had been unable to inherit a name, she questioned what exactly a politician was, and she half-hid the fact that she was a girl.

That imperfect, doubting, and false self had indeed produced an answer.

…''But what proof do I have that it will be accepted!?

Her father had certainly seen through her thoughts. He had likely realized that she was gathering her own thoughts on the issue. And that was why he was warning her by asking this question via Aoi.

She could clearly see his warning. If she ignored her own inexperience and continued forward…

…''I will be throwing away my future.

She would lose the support of her father and the others around her and her path to the future would close.

She had already failed to inherit a name and now she would cut off her path to being a politician.

And so she held the note in her hand.

It held unnecessary thoughts.

This failure to take her inexperience into account was the source of her grief, anger, and excess emotions and dreams.

If she ripped the paper in two, her father and the Council would accept her and everything would return to normal.

And so…

“This is…!!”

But just as she tried to tear it apart, she heard a sound in front of her.

It was the sound of tearing paper. Aoi had torn apart the cheat sheet in his hand.

“…!?”

As she wondered what was happening, she saw him raise his eyebrows slightly.

He entered her vision while she continued to hang her head.

He remained at a distance, but he had crouched down to peer up at her from below.

“Don’t be silly. I want to hear ''your'' answer.”

Aoi wanted to hear her answer.

“But…”

“Weren’t you listening? I’m not very smart, I can’t do anything, and I can’t answer these questions myself. The same goes for the others. That money-lover can only count money. Our glasses-wearing author can only talk about history. …The only one who can talk about politics is you.”

So…

“Who else is going to give their answer here?”

“Bu-…”

“No buts.”

Aoi sat down and slammed the remains of his cheat sheet to the ground.

“Listen!”

She jumped slightly when he suddenly shouted out and pointed at her.

…''Why…?

Why was this idiot so angry all of a sudden?

She was his enemy here. And yet…

“Listen,” he said again. “You are…! You are our academy’s vice president!”

“…”

“Listen. You are the only one among us with any authority left. Do you understand what that means!? Nothing I say here means a thing! But you’re different. You may think you’re representing the Provisional Council, but you’re our vice president.”

She listened.

“You represent us! So give your answer!!”

His shout caused her to jump again.

…''I…

What did she want to do?

She did not know.

She always hesitated, lamented, and grew self-centered.

But right now…

…''I…

“I…!”

She opened her mouth to speak.

And a voice rose as if in response.

“Masazumi.”

They were the words of a will. She interpreted it as a voice, but this was something’s will.

But what was using this ability of mutual understanding?

“It can’t be…”

She and Aoi both turned toward the voice.

Halfway up the stairs, Adele was holding a bucket. The foundations of her vassal’s mobile shell’s legs that she wore on her feet created a fair bit of noise as she climbed the steps.

“Oh, am I interrupting? But, um, the chancellor asked me to bring this.”

After climbing the stairs, the eyes behind her glasses looked back and forth between Masazumi and Aoi.

Aoi smiled. He faced Adele and indicated Masazumi with a hand. But then he faced the bucket.

“Go for it.”

In response, something climbed onto the edge of the bucket.

“Masazumi.”

It was a brown algae creature.

“Is that one of those things from the sewers?” asked Asama.

“Yeah,” said Naomasa with a bandage on her cheek. “I’m sometimes in charge of swapping out the purification pod that’s filled with them. They don’t get very attached to people. They know they’re dirty, so they think they would just be a bother. They try to keep their distance and only exchange a greeting.”

She smiled.

“I’ve never heard of one calling anyone by name before.”

Masazumi faced the black algae creature’s sensory organs.

She only needed to lower her head slightly. Instead of sewage, the bucket Adele held was filled with ink and a few other black algae creatures were floating or submerged in the ink.

“Masazumi,” said the one on the edge of the bucket.

But after calling her name again…

“Ah.”

It lost its balance and fell outside the bucket.

However, Masazumi reflexively reached for the black-stained creature.

“Oh.”

And she caught it in her hands.

With a wet splat, it landed on the paper she held and the black water spread out and covered the writing.

“Thank you,” said the creature.

“Don’t worry about it.”

These creatures had always peered at her from behind Horizon’s legs, but this was the first time one had spoken to her.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Help.”

“Help what?

“Horizon.”

“…”

She was dumbfounded, but the creature continued speaking.

“Help friend.”

A few of the creatures inside the bucket climbed onto the edge.

“Horizon said.”

“Said what?”

“Masazumi is politician.” “Politicians save people.” “In exchange for taxes.”

After that chain of comments, the creature in her hand shook. It went on to produce a small stone in her hand. It was transparent and resembled glass.

…''Is this made from the components of the sewage that they couldn’t break down because it wasn’t trash?

“Three years of work made this.” “Not enough?” “Need more?”

“How can we help Horizon?”

“Well…” she said.

“Help.”

She listened.

“Help, Masazumi.”

Their words made her tremble.

…''Dammit.

Masazumi began to wonder what she had come here to do, what she was doing, and what she wanted to do.

But there was one thing she did know. She heard the same words repeated.

“How can we help Horizon?”

“…”

Hearing that, she made up her mind and acted. She slowly moved the black algae creature to the bucket.

“Masazumi?”

As she silently grabbed the stone remaining on her hand, the creatures spoke.

“Paper dirty.” “Sorry.” “Can’t read.”

“It’s fine. I can still read it if I try. And…”

She clenched the stone in her stained hand, clenched the paper in her other hand, and placed the paper in the bucket.

“It’s fine. You can eat it. I have already made up my mind.”

''That’s right,'' she muttered in her heart. ''What do I want to do?

And she answered her own question.

“I wonder if I could save her if I was a politician.”

She thought about who she had once been, who she had been until very recently. She had simply said she wanted to be a politician with no real purpose behind it. But she was now aware of something.

“That’s right.”

She wanted to save lives that were on the verge of being lost.

Her old self had to have felt the same and that was why she asked herself another question.

…''Why do I want to be a politician?

“Answer me this.” She raised her head and stopped her gaze on Aoi who was still sitting down. “Aoi Toori, am I a representative of Musashi Ariadust Academy?”

“Of course you are.”

“I see.” She nodded. “Then I will answer the question you gave me. Basically, you want a justification for saving Horizon that applies to the Testament Union as well. You want said justification to avoid the war and the damages to the reservations that will come about from rescuing her.”

“That’s right. Give me your answer.”

“Then,” said Masazumi while looking away from him and toward the front of the ship.

While holding the bucket of black algae creatures, Adele moved out of the way of her gaze. She could see the people of Musashi in the space this cleared and she spoke to them.

She spoke her countermeasure which she had thought up in the morning and written in that note.

“There is a justification for saving Horizon Ariadust,” she said. “First of all, there is no need for her to take responsibility as Mikawa’s ruler.”

In front of Tres España’s tent, everyone focused on the ''cadena firma''.

They had all stopped reaching into the bag of popcorn.

“What is she saying?”

“Last night, Lord Motonobu, ruler of Mikawa, destroyed Mikawa and died in the process,” said the girl in the ''cadena firma''. “But that is being viewed as a portion of Mikawa’s destruction rather than as suicide. As such, the responsibility has been shifted to the next ruler.”

But…

“But when Lord Motonobu died, Horizon Ariadust was not his heir. Isn’t that right, Asama? The summary succession confirmation was carried out this morning, correct?”

“Oh, y-yes. That’s right,” said a girl not visible on the screen. “For a Shinto musician, succession confirmation is carried out before their god; but Mikawa’s shrine was lost, so it seems a Shinto spell user traveling with the Testament Union performed the succession confirmation for Mikawa’s ruler. They were from K.P.A. Italia, so I assume they were a helper from Aki’s Itsukushima Shrine. Horizon is a resident of Musashi and has a second-level contract with the Asama Shrine, so we received a report.”

Muneshige and Gin commented without looking away from the screen.

“Aki? That is a very formal shrine. It is built on a floating island, so it is supposedly impregnable.”

“It acts as the Papa-Schola’s fortress now.”

“Now, let me say this,” said the vice president on the screen while sweeping her right hand from left to right. “Horizon Ariadust has no memories of the past and has been living as a resident of Musashi, so she had nothing to do with the destruction of Mikawa. So why must she take responsibility for that destruction?”

“Well…”

The chancellor appeared on the screen. He was frowning and staring down at a new cheat sheet.

“Because she’s the ruler, right?”

“Not necessarily.”

The vice president looked at the chancellor just once before turning back to the screen.

Gin raised one eyebrow slightly.

“That vice president has changed from a moment before. She almost seems to be speaking to us.”

“You think so too?” asked Muneshige.

Gin only nodded and said nothing more.

Who exactly was the vice president trying to speak to?

They could not say and they may have been imagining it at this point.

But she raised a finger toward them again.

“If you insist she take responsibility for something she knew nothing about and had no control over, who would you have had take responsibility if she had not been here? No one knew Mikawa would be destroyed! The only ones who did were lost along with Mikawa. Then who will take responsibility? Do you understand what I am saying?”

“…”

“Do you understand? You are taking someone unrelated to an incident, someone who knew nothing about it until just now, and then suddenly making them an heir and forcing responsibility onto them! Think carefully. If the Testament Union’s method is legitimate, ''someone else'' would have had to have been made ruler of Mikawa and forced to ‘commit suicide’ had Horizon not been here. This will set a precedent for making someone an ‘heir’ and executing them for something they were wholly unrelated to!”

The vice president on the screen took a breath and struck at the air as if swatting something away.

“This is a misuse of the history recreation! This is a devilish system allowing them to execute whoever they want!”

“Wait,” said Aoi from next to Masazumi.

Strength left her shoulders as she turned toward him. She exaggerated her motion to get her force, presence, words, and intentions across to the people watching via the divine transmissions carried over ley lines.

“What!?”

“Look, I know you’re kind of on a roll right now, but let me speak for a second. You’re not just saying Horizon doesn’t have to take responsibility; you’re saying no one does. In that case, where does responsibility for the destruction of Mikawa go?”

“You want me to tell you?”

Masazumi turned back toward the people. The film crew from the Broadcast Committee stood at the center of the staircase.

…''Reach him.

There was one person in particular she needed her will to reach.

While hoping it would happen, she formed more words.

“Mikawa lost its ruler and most of its land. It needs to be reconstructed in the future, but the people can’t live without the city infrastructure. They are getting by right now with Musashi’s infrastructure and ships loaded with temporary residences. So what can be done about this situation?”

“What?”

She held the fingers of her right hand out toward the film crew.

“Mikawa can be recognized as an aerial city ship and exist alongside Musashi.”

In other words…

“Mikawa will not be lost, so no one must take responsibility.”

“…”

“Are you listening? Mikawa was crucial as a neutral city between Tsirhc and Mlasi, but Musashi can handle that while traveling. If Mikawa exists alongside Musashi, we can recover from the loss of Mikawa without affecting Musashi’s authority!”

She heard surprised voices welling up from below.

But they changed to confused voices and soon excited voices joined in.

“———!?”

A sudden explosion of voices rose into the air.

…''Come on.

With that thought, she let out a shout to make the final push.

“Musashi Ariadust Academy uses the previous opinion as a counter-proposal concerning the Testament Union’s treatment of Horizon Ariadust! We request that the Testament Union rethink this! Our justification is as follows! The Testament Union’s current actions are a misuse of the history recreation and their actions are making light of the Testament!”

Her shouted words received an almost immediate response.

“Nothing but sophistry.”

A staticky voice suddenly came from the broadcast.

And…

“…!?”

A man’s face appeared on the broadcast display boards and all the sign frame style bulletin boards in the area and in the sky.

The man wore a white cloak.

“The pope-chancellor…”

“That’s right.”

Those words of confirmation caused Masazumi to mentally clench her fists.

…''Here he is.

The one listening to her words and watching all of her actions beyond the screen had been this man.

He was the representative of the Testament Union. He was the one who had pushed Horizon’s suicide as the means of maintaining history.

If she won in this confrontation against him, everything would change. The people and Musashi would change.

Aoi glanced over at her.

“Seijun, I like the look in your eyes.”

“Aoi, I will be saying some complicated things now.”

She took a breath and ignored the pope-chancellor’s face visible in the air.

She had to face the Broadcast Committee’s film crew rather than the screen in the sky.

She stared straight forward as if looking at the person beyond the screen.

“Aoi, listen carefully. This is what really matters. But…”

There was more to the countermeasure she had thought up that morning.

She did not know if she could complete it or not.

She might grow timid, she might lose confidence, and she might grow utterly confused.

But there was one thing she knew for sure.

“I will make sure to fulfill my role and open a path to Horizon.”

In the tent, Innocentius sat in his chair and faced forward.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked into the camera on the table.

…''What a troublesome lot.

This was the duty of the leader of the Catholics who worshipped the Testament and preserved the history recreation.

The suicide of Mikawa’s princess was not a part of history, but it was a historically legitimate means of taking responsibility and it would make up for the destruction of Mikawa.

The people of Musashi were shouting in excitement, but…

“It is an empty argument.” he said. “You, vice president. You just said what you would do, did you not?”

“Yes, I did.”

“No, not ‘yes’. Use ‘judge’. Your people are being judged, remember?”

''What an obvious provocation,'' he thought. ''But as the Catholic leader, I can’t overlook someone who ignores the Testament Union’s decision.

The leader had to set an example for everyone else. He could not allow himself to waver in the slightest.

“You want us to free Mikawa’s princess because she is unrelated to the incident? A nice idea. A very nice idea indeed. It’s been a while…a good long while since I’ve heard that.”

He took a breath.

“But I have heard that appeal for a life thousands if not tens of thousands of times.”

Of course he had.

“We follow the Testament descriptions and recreate history. But there will always be discrepancies. We may be able to see a hundred years into the future, but our knowledge and imagination of the former Age of the Gods is lacking, our supply of people and materials is insufficient, and we must put up with the harsh environment and intentional obstacles. And so we must eliminate these discrepancies.”

“Are you suggesting the suicide of Horizon Ariadust, an unrelated princess, will help eliminate these discrepancies?”

“Are you suggesting we allow the discrepancies to exist?”

Musashi’s vice president closed her mouth.

“…”

And she felt silent.

The silence that followed brought some slight admiration to Innocentius.

…''Oh?

If she had said they would allow the discrepancies, that Far Eastern academy would be ignoring the history recreation and could be dealt with accordingly.

But Musashi’s vice president had avoided that mistake.

…''I see.

When she had spoken out before, he had assumed she was merely lost in using her words to attack.

…''But…

He adjusted his position in his chair.

He crossed his legs, let his right hand dangle outside the chair, and placed his left hand on his crossed leg.

His waist was placed halfway along the chair.

He looked at the screen and then turned toward the camera.

“Let us talk.” He took a breath. “Let us talk about the proper state of the world.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter_30|Chapter 30]]
| [[Horizon:Volume_1B_Chapter_32|Chapter 32]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter 33

2016-03-19T23:42:25Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 33: The Summit’s Flower */

==Chapter 33: The Summit’s Flower==
[[Image:Horizon1B_419.jpg|thumb]]
''Why

''Do suggestive flowers

''Blossom despite being isolated?

'''Point Allocation (Reliability)

Futayo’s call for an opponent caused everyone on the port side to exchange glances.

Urquiaga and Noriki were getting up after the attack from Galileo’s spell, but fighting Honda Tadakatsu’s daughter while injured was a heavy burden.

They all slowly gathered, formed a circle, and began to whisper.

“How about I head out as a knight? Just leave it to me and – wham! – she’ll be done for.”

“Hm. Or I could drop Jizuri Suzaku from the sky as a surprise attack and – crash! – that would settle that.”

“No, I should use my bow from a distance and – boom! – problem solved.”

“…Why do the girls around here like onomatopoeia so much?” complained Tenzou.

“A dispute among the students like before was fine, but I’m not sure the Mitotsudaira family would support you if you opposed the King of Musashi,” said Neshinbara. “Also, I doubt a surprise attack would work on her and Asama-kun can’t oppose the King of Musashi as the daughter of the Asama Shrine.”

“Then we have no choice but to send me!” declared Nenji.

“As a German, I’ll put this realistically,” said Naito. “I think that would end with her stepping on you and splattering you everywhere.”

“Margot and I take a moment to use our spells and her cutting would reach us in the sky.”

Everyone exchanged another glance. For an instant, their gazes gathered on Persona-kun, but he frantically shook his helmet. No one even considered Itoken or Hassan.

Finally, Neshinbara sighed and spoke.

“I guess that leaves me. I can use substitution spells like Bertoni-kun did earlier.”

“I would be a better choice than you,” said Tenzou quietly. “She is a samurai which is a poor match for a ninja like me, but I can try.”

As he spoke, Toori peered down at them from the bridge.

“No, no. Tenzou can’t do it! That’s hopeless.”

“Y-you don’t have to pour cold water on my motivation, you know!”

“What!? But think about how she speaks. She speaks in a super old-fashioned way while you half-ass it. You lose from character density perspective before the fight even starts.”

Tenzou lowered his head for a bit.

As Futayo watched, she called out from over the railing.

“Do you need something with me? Does that ninja want something?”

“Tenzou, do you think you can speak like her without trying?”

The ninja hung his head, fell to his hands and knees, and repeatedly slammed his right fist against the schoolyard.

“D-dammit! I-I just can’t do it that seriously!!”

As everyone commented on how he took it pretty far as well, someone suddenly raised their head.

“Heh heh heh. The pathetic ninja, the pious half-dragon, the unsociable fighter, and all these overly-offensive girls are simply hopeless.”

It was Kimi. She raised her eyebrows and let out a laugh.

“Listen, all you foolish people. Simply sit there drinking tea. Foolish brother, your wise sister will save you and all your lacking companions. Flat-chested politician, come down from there. It is dangerous.”

As she spoke, Kimi left the group and walked toward the stairs up to the bridge.

On the bridge, Masazumi looked down at her with a confused look, but Toori spoke up.

“Oh, sis gets scary if you don’t do what she says, so you should probably go down.”

“A-are you sure this is okay?”

“Yeah. Oh, but based on what she said, I think she quite likes you, Seijun. You don’t have to be scared.”

''Really?'' she wondered as she descended the stairs.

Kimi was unarmed as she climbed the stairs in her place. As she walked, she removed the neck of her uniform’s inner suit, the white inner collar connected to the hard points, and the uniform’s chest.

“These are in the way.”

With the chest opened up, her breasts were only supported by the sash-like black part. She also removed the shoulders of the jacket, removed the vest-like jacket, and left only the sleeves wrapped around her arms.

She was now lighter. Her skin was exposed, but she had a smile on her lips as she finished climbing the stairs.

“Heh heh heh. Foolish brother, you can start thanking me now. You will be thanking me again afterwards as well.”

“Sis, you’re always amazing with that sort of thing! Have you gone a little insane!?”

“Heh heh heh. Foolish brother, just admit you cannot keep up with your sister. Of course, there is no way you can keep up with your excellent sister who was born so much earlier than you.”

“C’mon, sis. You can’t brag about being born earlier. Come to think of it, you might’ve been born due to an accident on dad and mom’s part. On the other hand, I was born later, so I was born due to a planned effort on their part.”

“Heh heh heh. You scum.”

Masazumi listened to their smiling exchange as she joined the others down below.

“Are those two okay?”

“Oh, yes. Kimi and Toori-kun have always been like this. You could say this is how they interact.”

“But if you ask me, I think Kimi-chan is at her best here.”

“Heh heh heh. The people down below are talking about us, foolish brother.”

“C’mon, sis. A lot of the people down there are my friends, so don’t get them mixed up.”

“True.”

As they spoke, something happened atop the bridge.

Futayo slowly got down from the railing while Toori and the Yoshinao couple headed for the stairs.

That left two. Kimi and Futayo faced each other at a distance of five meters.

As the two faced each other, Yoshinao heard his wife’s voice as he reached the edge of the stairs.

“Honey.”

Her words reached his heart as the ends of her eyebrows lowered and she pulled on his sleeve.

He knew what she wanted to say. He should stop this.

On one side was a warrior. On the other…

…''Is a strange girl.

That was the older sister of Toori Aoi who walked next to him. He had heard her speak, but he was not sure what she meant. However, he was fairly certain she was human.

A warrior against a strange girl.

The latter could not win. And if she could not win, she could only lose.

And losing against a warrior would most likely mean receiving some form of injury. That was why his wife wanted to stop it. He felt his wife was a kind person. That satisfied him and he decided to take her out to eat some time soon.

“Hey, We, We! Why are you staring off into space? Does your brain work differently or something?”

“Only we may call us We!” shouted Yoshinao. “Are you not going to stop her!? She is your sister!”

“It’s fine. Anyway, I have a question.”

Yoshinao listened to the boy’s carefree voice.

“If my sis wins, will you give me the position of king?”

“…”

''What nonsense is this?'' he wondered. ''The position of king is given on the instructions of the Testament Union.

However…

“We, you took our authority, so you can do the same thing in reverse. Also… If Horizon does return, she’ll be the ruler of Musashi, Mikawa, and the Far East as a whole, so you’ll be in conflict, right? And…”

“And?” asked Yoshinao wondering where Toori was going with this.

…''This boy can do nothing and everything he does is foolish. But…

For some reason, he was beginning to move Musashi, the entire Far East, and maybe even more than that. His motive was simple. He simply wished to rescue and confess to the girl he had fallen for, but people had begun to take action toward that end.

Yoshinao had heard what this foolish boy had said to the Papa-Schola.

…''He wanted his answer.

This got Yoshinao thinking.

He had once ruled a small territory on the national border and had intended to protect the people there.

But the Testament Union had told him to become the King of Musashi.

…''If we had refused, our territory would have been destroyed.

And so he had obeyed, given his territory to the Testament Union, and avoided conflict.

But the major town of his territory had been destroyed by a highway between nations and the remaining villages had been absorbed by an industrial city. The people began living in the city and had supposedly gained a wealthier life.

He wondered if they were happier now, but those who had insisted on remaining in their simple land had lost everything.

And so he asked Toori another question. He asked a question to this idiot who had rejected the loss of what he cared for and was struggling despite having no power.

“Why do you wish to be king?”

“Because I want to take back all that Horizon lost because of me,” answered Toori. “Don’t worry. Even if I become king, I won’t use the royal we. That can still be your thing. It’s better that way. …Because I can still make jokes.”

“That is not the issue!!”

Yoshinao shouted, but he sighed inwardly.

…''What is he trying to do?

There was no way his sister could win the battle beginning before their eyes.

As he looked up, Futayo took a slow step forward.

“Now then.”

She approached in order to begin the battle.

Futayo looked at the girl standing before her.

Her wavy hair was dyed light brown and she had a confident smile on her face. Her name was Kimi and she was supposedly the elder sister of Musashi’s chancellor.

The sleeves wrapped around her arms and the exposed top of her breasts led Futayo to a certain conclusion.

“Are you a shirabyoushi?”

“Heh heh heh. Such a boring girl with no knowledge of art. This is much older than that. Are you truly that ignorant?”

“Unfortunately, I have no interest in the arts.”

“Heh heh. You will waste your life. How very boring. …Uzy, come on out.”

Once its name was called, a super-deformed girl-type Mouse appeared on her shoulder. The Mouse wore a mask pushed back above her head.

“This is the Mouse of Uzume, the primary god of the arts. My main shrine is Ootsubaki Shrine in Mikawa, but my contract is held via Asama. …Do you understand how Uzume-type gods work?”

“Not in detail. I only know it involves conveying emotions by causing commotions and laughter.”

“Is that so? Then I shall teach you.”

Kimi began slowly shaking her body along with Uzy on her shoulder.

This was the beginning of a dance. Futayo took a defensive stance while thinking Kimi was going to try something.

“Let me make myself clear: if you surrender, I will not treat you roughly.”

“Heh heh. What a fool. A girl who says she does not want to be treated roughly is a girl who has never even been treated mildly. Or do you think lenient treatment will delight your partner?” Kimi shook her body in the opposite direction, returned in the first direction, and smiled. “Even if you are able to delight your partner, you could never win them over. You have never seriously faced someone, have you?”

Hearing that, Futayo gulped.

…''Well…

That morning, she had challenged Tachibana Muneshige in speed. She remembered how that had overturned everything, including her standpoint. She felt that was the best she could have done in that situation, but…

“…”

She slowly shook her head and drove the memories from her mind.

…''There is no reason to let her shake me.

She had to calm down. Her opponent did not appear to have trained her body for combat. Nor did she wield a weapon. She had produced a Mouse, so she would likely use a spell or divine protection. It was possible she had already used them.

However, the girl’s hands were covered by her sleeves. She could not operate a sign frame like that. She could still use spells by communicating with her Mouse, but that added more time to activate a spell.

In that case, it had to be divine protection. She would have a divine protection spell from an Uzume-type entertainment god.

…''It will not be combat oriented.

There were different categories of gods because their abilities were also divided. If two gods were close in type, their spells and protections would be similar or even identical, but an entertainment god was simply too far removed from the combat category.

“Oh, just so you know, all of my contracts are related to eroticism and dancing.”

…''She really has no combat abilities!!

In that case, she would use substitution intermediation.

By dedicating a dance, she could gain the power of another god via the Uzume shrine.

''In that case,'' thought Futayo. ''I need to be on my guard.

And once she put up her guard, she thought. If her attack hit, she would defeat her opponent. That opponent’s movements were slow, so she could grab her if she tried.

…''That leaves countless means of winning.

She would not even need to use the cutting power which was Tonbokiri’s true essence as a divine weapon. She could easily cut this girl with the actual blade. Or she could jab her with the butt of the spear. She could also sweep her legs out from under her, grab onto her arms and throw her, or pull her to the ground with her hair which was carelessly waving around.

Almost anything would work.

But that was why she decided to use speed.

That technique had not worked on Tachibana Muneshige that morning, but she wanted to check it again. She felt it was immature to use it on an opponent who was so far below her level, but the opponent was irrelevant when it came to testing her own ability.

And so Futayo lowered her stance, held up Tonbokiri, and faced Kimi as the girl swayed.

“Prepare yourself!”

And she took a step forward.

Futayo used the handle.

Tonbokiri was normally 3.6 meters long plus a 40 centimeter blade, but it could vary between six meters and one meter using its ability to extend and contract.

It was currently approximately 2.7 meters and she found that length easiest to use.

Simply holding the center of the handle was enough to give her a blunt weapon over a meter long on both the right and left. If she passed by her opponent with a movement spell, it would be no different from hitting her with a metal rod.

Futayo moved. She travelled forward to pass by Kimi on the left as the girl continued to sway.

She swung the handle at ankle height. She had thought about going for the abdomen, but the cost would be too great in the off chance that her opponent truly had nothing at all prepared. A high speed strike to the gut of an untrained person could easily break bones or rupture organs.

The ankle could still break bones, but the odds were higher the girl would merely trip. Her balance was unsteady due to her swaying, so she would trip if Futayo scooped upwards as she hit.

An untrained body was easily damaged. After the fall and the pain in her ankles prevented her from walking, Kimi would likely surrender.

And so Futayo carried out her plan.

She ran forward with her divine protection. She lowered her body and swung the handle down.

“…!”

And she swept it across to take out her opponent’s ankles.

Yoshinao saw Futayo suddenly appear before his eyes.

She had of course travelled there, but it had looked like she had instantly teleported. The motion of the wind and the waving of Futayo’s clothes and hair allowed him to just barely guess the direction of her motion.

…''She is fast.

But that thought made him recall a certain fact.

…''But there was someone she could not catch up to with that speed.

In that case, Musashi’s students had to be stronger than Futayo at the least.

But even if they could demonstrate that strength…

…''It does not mean they can overcome the one who defeated her.

As he thought, Futayo adjusted her lowered stance, spun Tonbokiri around, and held it normally once more.

“It is over.”

Yoshinao looked back toward where Kimi had stood.

There, he saw Kimi standing casually and swaying with her arms crossed.

…''What?

Kimi stood there.

She was unharmed. She did not have a scratch on her.

…''What just happened?

As he gasped, his wife tugged on his left sleeve with her eyes wide.

Futayo noticed how the two of them were acting.

“What is the matter?”

As she asked that, she followed their gazes and looked behind her.

In front of Yoshinao, his wife, and Futayo’s gazes, Kimi stood with a smile on her face.

She was simply swaying lightly as if nothing had happened. She swayed with the tempo of a dance step.

After a moment, Futayo nodded. After another pause, she nodded again and then a third time.

“I never thought reality would lie to me.”

“Heh heh heh. Try not to take so long to reach such a simple conclusion. …Foolish brother, how would you react in this situation? Give her an example!”

Next to the railing, Yoshinao, his wife, and Futayo all turned in the direction of Kimi’s gaze. There, they saw Toori peering into a bucket and muttering to himself.

He sat down, occasionally laughed toward the bucket, and lightly stroked its wooden surface.

“Heh. Hah hah. Wa ha ha. You’re so cute. So very cute. Heh heh heh. You’re soaking wet.”

“…Has he gone beyond cross-species romance and reached inanimate object romance? You have quite an advanced younger brother.”

“Heh heh heh. He has done surprisingly well for my brother. Skipping past the middle steps makes for an excellent visual. I will knock him into the sewage later. …Now, Honda Futayo. You are currently the least interesting girl in the entire Far East.” Kimi raised her eyebrows and smiled. “You are just as hopeless as I thought. …You are making the idea of speed cry.”

In that instant, Futayo vanished from Yoshinao’s vision.

Futayo made her second attack.

She charged to the left and swung the spear as she passed by. She pulled in her shoulder and raised her bent elbow like a crank to scoop up her opponent’s legs.

And she hit.

She felt the blow connect. She used her entire body to brake and stopped after travelling seven meters. While almost sliding forward, she lowered her upper body and turned around so as not to turn her back to the enemy.

With the butt end of Tonbokiri turned toward her opponent, she raised her upper body to look.

“Heh heh. What are you doing? Is that supposed to be fast? Or painful? Or simply…meaningless?”

Despite supposedly having been hit, Kimi faced her with a smile.

…''What?

“What sort of spell is this?”

“Who would be foolish enough to ask? And who would be foolish enough to answer? …But I am willing to brag about it.”

While taking swaying steps, Kimi stretched her right arm directly out to the side. While lightly spinning, Uzy travelled along the arm and then back. The Mouse rotated atop her breasts and then travelled along her extended left arm.

With the Mouse’s movements decorating her, Kimi spoke.

“Didn’t I tell you? My contract is related to eroticism and dance. But do you think being erotic means you will give your body to just anyone?”

With the Mouse named Uzy on the end of her left sleeve, Kimi slowly held the arm forward. She held her right arm forward as well and Uzy hopped to her right hand.

“The summit’s flower is only seen by those who reach that summit. And it cannot be brought down without it withering. And thus the summit’s flower continues to bloom in isolation. As long as that mountain remains inviolable, it can only be collectively worshipped by those who have reached that elevated place.”

Kimi laughed from her throat.

She then rotated her arms behind her and let Uzy hop to her left arm.

“My Summit Dance is a spell that does not allow anything inelegant to touch my body. It ensures that the flower cannot be picked by a fool who does not realize it will wither. Only someone I approve of, someone who I wish to wither for, can touch me.”

Futayo carried out her third attack, but Kimi’s voice continued as soon as she had dashed and swung her spear.

“How inelegant. Flowers are meant to be picked, not reaped.”

Futayo turned toward the voice behind her.

She saw a smile amid the waving hair and swaying body.

“Do not think I have no means of attack. Even beautiful flowers have thorns or poisonous roots. Let your guard down and I will slap you. And I will not stop until you are completely paralyzed,” said her opponent. “Now, show me whether you can reach this summit or not. As long as I continue dedicating this dance, I stand at the summit.”

And she moved. She swayed, stretched her gently moving body, raised her arms, tossed Uzy into the air, and opened her mouth.

“———!”

With a smile, she let out a voice. It was a type of tuning that seemed to call in something.

Uzy performed mid-air acrobatics and Kimi swayed as the Mouse began to fall. But this was not the gentle swaying from before. She made clear steps.

She moved up and down, her hair, clothes, and body waved about, and her sleeves audibly struck the air.

And something else joined that noise.

“Let…me…pass.”

Uzy fell to her shoulder, but her body swayed once more.

“Let me…pass.”

Her voice was higher and more drawn-out than before.

“Let me pass.”

Her words passed through the air.

Futayo recognized the words. This was a children’s song known as the Song of Passage. It was sung as a lullaby, an accompaniment to some games, and…

…''For dance!

''Not good,'' thought Futayo. ''What should I do?

“Let me pass.”

Her words were picking up pace. This was not the normal tempo for the song. It was a quick four-on-the-floor arrangement meant for dancing. As the tempo rose and the dance picked up speed, the density of the dance rose dynamically.

…''And its value as a dedication rises!

The summit’s flower was attempting to blossom in an even higher place.

And Futayo had yet to reach the current summit. The fact that her attacks could not reach Kimi proved that.

But she knew one solution.

…''Her spell is not perfect.

If her opponent was raising her dedication value by speeding up and singing, Futayo could reach her by dedicating an action that exceeded that level.

Tonbokiri’s cutting power would accomplish it in one shot. The weapon had been created as a military prototype. The amount of ether power consumed when activating it was greater than the amount of ether used for a personal spell.

''But,'' thought Futayo. ''I do not want to use that if I can avoid it.

Her opponent was the same age. If that opponent was dancing, she would use speed. She wanted to outdo this opponent with speed and leave Tonbokiri as a last resort.

“…”

She stood up and took a step in preparation for that.

As her opponent sang and gently built up speed, she built up her own speed with a step that used her movement spell.

“Let me pass.”

And she moved forward to gain passage.

A sound rang out.

The wind blew and shadows danced.

A black and white dance blossomed in the center and a wind repeatedly rushed through the surroundings.

In the wind, only human shadows and a silver arc were visible. The wind did not hesitate to use its blade.

The shaking of the bridge and the stepping of feet created a reverberation, hair whipping in the wind created a rustling, and clothes flapping about creating a beat in the air.

“Let me pass.”

She sang with a smile in her voice.

“If I follow this narrow path, where will it take me?”

The surrounding noises provided accompaniment.

“This narrow path leads to the gods in heaven.”

But the noises attempted to drown out the voice.

“Your opinion is not needed. You cannot pass through here.”

Again and again, the noises rang out.

“I have come to celebrate this child’s tenth birthday.”

Black and white clothing danced in the center.

“By dedicating these two talismans.”

The surrounding air enveloped her.

“Going may be easy, but returning is frightening.”

The schoolyard’s trees and the school building’s windows produced noise.

“Can I pass despite my fear?”

However…

“Let me pass.”

She began the second loop.

She did not stop, she did not cease, and she did not pause. Her speed only grew.

“…!!”

The sounds and her movements overlapped.

The speed grew. As if the noise had grown, the wind blew again and again.

“Hey… Look at that,” said the people watching.

The looked within the wind noisily surrounding the dance.

“I can see shadows now…”

As several people made similar dumbfounded comments, many different human figures began to appear within the wind.

High-speed movement and attacks repeated again and again. The movement could not be seen, but that movement stopped slightly in the instant of attack. Repeating this so many times produced a visible afterimage of the wind’s form.

Honda Futayo could be seen around the dancing black and white flower as she attempted to gain passage for her spear.

The location of her attacks changed based on the movements of the dance, so she did not appear in just one location. She became visible in two, three, four, and then suddenly seven and eight locations.

“Wait a second…”

Once it surpassed twelve, the afterimages became impossible to count as they began to appear behind and mix together with other afterimages.

But she could still not catch up. The dance was quick, accurate, singing, and noisy.

“She’s smiling…”

The flower danced while ignoring the blade that should have stabbed into her countless times. The people then noticed that the type of dance was changing.

“She’s dancing with her opponent.”

She was using Futayo’s movements as a part of the dance. Having seen through the movements of the girl’s arms, legs, and body, she would draw back when the girl moved forward and pursue when the girl moved back.

It was as if she had taken the girl’s hand.

And the dance changed to match. As she matched the dance to the attacks, it sped up even further.

“She’s swallowing her up.”

Kimi included Futayo’s attacks in her dance and raised the dedication level. The more Futayo raised her speed, the higher the summit of the flower that devoured that speed.

And so the sound of the wind grew. Sweat flew, the wind burst, and…

“Oh!”

That voice was accompanied by an action. This was Futayo’s cry as she attacked.

“Ohhhh!”

Her speed added power to the strike and flowers scattered.

Those flowers were white sparks. Both of their powers were strengthened by a spell. The ether protecting them collided and produced those glowing flowers.

Futayo was catching up. As she tried to take the lead in the dance, those white flowers flew amid a great noise.

“Ohhhhh!”

Her tearing shout produced color.

That color was red. As Kimi danced, several scarlet lines raced across her skin.

The wind was reaching her. The wind’s blade attempted to forcefully pick the flower.

“…”

Beads of blood joined the flowing sweat on the dancing flower’s skin and it drew lines as it dripped down.

But the flower did not end its dance.

Even as the summit’s wind raged about, the flower continued looking higher.

The song entered a new loop.

As wind blew through the port side and the noise shook the ground, Masazumi asked the others a question.

“Is she okay!?”

She felt the situation had gone beyond a battle between allies and reached a deadly state.

…''If Aoi’s sister’s defenses are broken…

Futayo would likely stab straight through her.

She felt a bad feeling in the bottom of her gut.

“She will be fine,” said Asama as she held Suzu from behind.

Masazumi turned toward her and saw Asama’s eyebrows raised as she looked up at the bridge. Her expression belied her words, so it seemed she had been speaking to reassure herself.

“She will be fine. Everyone believes she will, so you believe in her too, Masazumi.”

“But…”

“Kimi will not lose.”

The instant Asama said that, she closed her right eye. Masazumi looked over at the girl’s right cheek.

“Blood…”

It had reached her after being scattered by the wind. It was not much, but the color was clearly there.

However…

“She will be fine,” said Asama without wiping away the blood. “As I am sure you all know, Kimi has only ever cried once.”

“When? And to who?”

While looking up at the wind on the bridge, Asama gave the answer.

“A long time ago and to Toori-kun. …That was the only time.”

So…

“As long as Toori-kun is watching, she will not lose.”

As Kimi sang and danced within the wind, she thought.

…''This is wonderful. Great!

This was a good opponent. Not many people in Musashi could reach this speed.

''Such a wonderful opponent,'' she thought. ''If it was a boy, there would be a sensual side too, but with a girl it is…um… What do you call it? Let’s see… Oh, well. I forget. But that is fine. I make the rules after all.

…''But this is truly wonderful.

Her opponent was keeping up, so she brought her dance to the next level.

But her opponent kept up with that as well. She forcibly kept up as if clinging to Kimi.

…''This is fun.

She did not feel she was being forced higher. After all, a girl was supposed to run away and have her opponent chase after her. There was beauty in running away so she could not be caught.

At the moment, she was moving.

Her sweat flowed, her hair shook, and her heat leaked from her skin. All sounds seemed like the beating of her heart.

She felt as if speaking out would expose her passion, will, beating heart, and everything else to the outside world.

It felt wonderful.

Her movements reached their peak, she demonstrated her will as much as possible, and the beating of her heart grew to the extreme.

“———!”

And she exposed it all. All of her was defenseless. This was not something she could do often.

''But,'' she thought. ''This is not enough.

There was a time long ago when she had cried with everything she had.

…''Even this dance is nowhere close to that.

There had been a few times when she had tried to reach that point again, but she had never been able to reach that truly defenseless state a second time. No matter how far she took the dance, she could not catch up to that instant in the past.

She recalled what she had been exposing back then.

She recalled the past.

…''That was…

She thought about what had once happened.

…''That was a few months after Horizon passed away.

She remembered.

“It seems Toori-kun received a serious injury on his left shoulder in the accident that took Horizon from us. While still unconscious, he was taken to Mikawa with Horizon and he was still sleeping when he was returned. But he was alone then.”

Below the great noise and crying wind, Masazumi listened to Asama.

“For a while, he stopped attending the academy. He stayed in his home for several months and it seems he never said anything.”

“Aoi did?”

“Yes. Toward the end, he stopped eating and lost a lot of weight. At the time, his and Kimi’s parents were away and no one could contact them. When we came to see him, he would refuse to come out, so we wondered what was going to happen.”

Asama’s words spilled from her mouth.

“But it was Kimi who woke him up.”

''That day was no different from any other day,'' thought Kimi as she moved.

Their parents had been gone, so she had been living alone with her brother who could not move his left arm very well.

She had been able to stay up late without anyone getting mad at her and she had been able to eat whatever she wanted as long as she stayed within the budget.

But her brother had been in a bad state. He would not speak, he would rarely change his clothes, he had stopped cleaning his room, and his expression would never change, but he had said something just once.

“What would happen if I died?”

She had not been able to say it was unexpected. At the time, she had thought about it too. She had understood that her brother thought it was his fault that Horizon had died.

And so she had answered while doing the best a child could to feign calm.

“Stop that.”

And he had obeyed. He had not done anything to try to kill himself.

…''But he stopped eating.

He would come down to the table at mealtimes, but he would only sit in his chair and do nothing. He would hang his head and stare through his unkempt bangs at the table as if he could see straight through it.

Eventually, he had stopped coming when she called him down for meals.

She would tell herself he must have already eaten, eat her own meal, and then return to her room.

…''Did I do that because I was afraid?

She did not know.

But even though her brother had not been eating or drinking anything, she had heard him vomiting in the bathroom late at night. And not because he had been feelings sick or had eaten something funny.

…''He would stick his hand in his throat.

She had been able to tell he was attempting to vomit up his entire being because she could hear the small whistling of his breathing while obstructed by his hand.

She had tried to cover her ears, but it had not worked. After all, she could still vividly recall the noise even now.

The time he had spent motionless had increased.

He had done what she said. When she had brought food or hot water to his room, he would eat or drink a little while she was there. But he would not even touch it once she left and he would vomit it up later.

Their classmates at the academy had been concerned at first, but they had eventually stopped mentioning the real issue.

No one could reach their parents. Whenever he would pass by the house, Asama’s father had provided support by giving her health and healing charms. He had tried to make it look casual, but it was obvious that was an act.

She had been able to withstand it due to the understanding and support of those in the neighborhood.

But the deciding factor had come one morning when she had woken up.

Her brother had been collapsed in the hallway.

When she had tried to waken him, she had been shocked to find how light he was. It had felt like she was holding something that was hollow inside.

The dining room had been closer than the bed, so she had set him in his chair and prepared a light meal.

She still remembered what she had thought back then.

…''This can’t keep on like this.

“Eat this,” she had said after placing chilled rice porridge and hot water in front of Toori.

But he had been different from normal then.

He had not listened to her and he had not even taken a bite.

Thinking back, she felt she had vaguely understood what she had been doing, but it had not occurred to her at the time.

“What is it?”

He had not responded no matter how many times she had spoken to him, so she had grabbed the collar of his pajamas in faint anger.

In that moment, she had heard her brother speak toward the floor.

“Horizon can’t feel anything anymore.”

Asama took a breath and looked up at the wind wrapping around the bridge and the flower at the center of the dance.

“It was amazing. On that day, I had reluctantly gone to meet Kimi and Toori-kun because my father told me to. I was supposed to ask them to come to the academy with me. When I approached, the window shattered and something rolled into the street. To my surprise, it was Toori-kun.”

And…

“A moment later, Kimi jumped out the window as well and held Toori-kun down. They were in their pajamas, but they didn’t seem to care. …It was all very intense.”

Kimi had climbed on top of her brother and punched him in the face.

She had not known how to throw a punch. She had simply clenched her right fist and punched him like she had seen the adults do it. She had punched him again and again. Her fist had struck his teeth and felt like it would break.

“Can’t feel anything!?”

As her voice had filled the air, she had swung her fist again.

“Listen! You aren’t Horizon!”

She had punched him, but she had known she was not getting through to him. Words would not get through to him and physical blows had only been shaking him.

But she had continued speaking as if telling him to remember.

“Horizon dying is no reason for you to die!”

His empty eyes had then turned toward her. His gaze had said that was not true.

His gaze had exposed his will much more than her words or blows had hers. His gaze said Horizon had died. It said he did not have the courage to kill himself and so he was simply going to let himself die.

Kimi had seen a smile on his lips as she had punched him.

She understood.

He was aware that he could not feel anything.

He could not feel her blows or her words. He had viewed it as the same as the place to which Horizon had gone.

Horizon could no longer feel anything and the same was happening to him.

…''So…

He had smiled.

…''And that is why…

“To hell with that!!”

Kimi had reached into her pocket for what she had brought from the dining room table. She had pulled it out, popped off the lid, and jammed it into Toori’s smiling mouth.

It was a salt shaker.

She had shoved it into his mouth.

“!?”

And despite his questioning look, she had grabbed the bottom of the glass container and shaken it as if trying to mix together everything in his mouth.

She had felt the salt pouring out into her brother’s mouth. It had all poured out without stopping.

It had not just fallen on his tongue. It had poured deep in his throat as if he had swallowed it.

…''Die.

She had honestly thought that. She had known that would not kill him, but she had definitely thought it.

She had wished for his current self to die and disappear.

And a moment later…

“…!!”

Toori’s body had shaken and he had forcefully thrown his head backwards.

His self-imprisonment in the illusion that he could feel nothing had come from a barrier in his mind. By relying on that, he had been able to put up with the pain. He had cut his feelings off from his mind.

But that flavor and the reaction of his body had been unexpected.

The tongue was a collection of blood vessels. The inside of the mouth was a mucous membrane with blood vessels on the surface. Even if it felt dry, it had moisture and it quickly absorbed substances. The salt had immediately entered the blood vessels and reached his starving body.

“…!?”

In what may have been the shock of his body’s rejection, Toori had bent backwards and thrown his hands about.

He had scratched at Kimi with the nails that had grown long due to neglect.

However…

“Ha ha.”

Kimi had rejoiced.

After all, her brother had moved.

She had done it. Spices were amazing.

''More. Yes. More and more spices. This is working. Delicious, isn’t it? It is enough to make you bend backwards. How about some pepper? And tabasco. Maybe some chili powder. Mom likes shichimi, doesn’t she?

''I can feel it pouring out in my hand. How lovely. After all, that sensation is making my brother move.

''Amazing. I am truly moved. I can see why pepper is worth a gold coin per grain.

''What a fool. Trembling, struggling, and scratching around like that has drawn blood. Heh heh. Why are you letting some spill from your mouth? Oh, is the bottle in the way? Then I will remove it. That way you can eat all of the contents. Look, I will remove it. I will punch you and then remove it. Right, then left. There, it’s gone. Oh, dear. Are you crying? Do not worry. I won’t tell you to stop. Move more and more. Shout out, cry…

“And remember your feelings.”

Kimi had shoved her bloody hand into her brother’s mouth. She had wrapped her fingers around the sand-like roughness inside his mouth and she had rubbed it onto his gums, underneath his tongue, and behind his teeth.

But her brother had bitten down. He had split the skin of her fingers, torn off some flesh, and most certainly swallowed a bit.

But Kimi had finally taken a sigh of relief.

“Blood, flesh, trembling, and tears. …Have you regained a bit of what Horizon lost?”

Toori had responded by opening his bloodshot eyes and staring at her.

She had removed her blood-stained hand from his mouth and used her fingers to wipe off his mouth and teeth which still had salt and spices on them.

“Have you returned? No… That is not what I should ask,” she had said. “You did not even manage to go where Horizon is, you…foolish brother!”

Toori had taken action in response.

His face had twisted, he had covered his eyes with his too-skinny arms, and his mouth had opened.

“Ahh…”

He had raised a torn voice and cried.

Hearing his voice for the first time in a while and feeling him trembling below her had led Kimi to breathe another sigh of relief.

People had gathered around them, but she had not cared. All that mattered was hearing her brother’s emotion-filled voice for the first time in months.

Whether he had been frustrated, regretful, disappointed, or maddened, he had indicated himself by raising a voice not much different from a newborn’s. Kimi had taken another even deeper breath when she heard his cry.

“Yes.”

The elder sister had lifted up her younger brother and gently yet awkwardly embraced him.

“It’s okay.”

She had brought her lips to the tears spilling from his eyes.

“Listen. Always live your life like you are crying. When you laugh and when you get angry, do it like you were only just born. Cry out like a newborn taking its first breaths. And then save those who cannot do the same. Live your life such that you take back the things that are lost or taken after people’s births. I will help you do so.”

The tears on her tongue had tasted like blood.

“Children are born while covered in blood. And people are able to cry because they wish to soak themselves in the flavor of blood and be reborn.”

If she had kissed him, he would have tasted the same. And that was how she had known her brother was alive. He had been living. He had been covered in the tears that tasted of blood. Those tears did not flow in death. They flowed only while alive.

With that thought, the tension of her own mind and body had suddenly vanished.

“Ee.”

Tears had spilled out and her jaw had twisted.

“…”

She had cried. She had not known why. She thought it might have been to act foolishly to trick him, but whatever the reason, her brother’s crying had spread to her and she had raised her own crying voice as if to share in the feeling causing the tears.

She had cried loudly.

“On that day, Kimi did not come to the academy either, but they were both at my family’s shrine when I returned. Toori-kun looked incredibly refreshed and he was pulling on Kimi’s hand as she cried.”

“Did they make a contract with a god?” asked Masazumi.

Asama closed her eyes and nodded.

“And ever since, they have been like this. We may have grown accustomed to it, but I think they have even powered up since back then.”

But…

“The rest of us can’t thank Kimi enough for keeping Toori-kun with us.”

Masazumi then heard a noise.

The speed and the dance collided on the bridge. It began with flying sparks and a great high-pitched noise.

Futayo’s speed had caught up with Kimi’s dance and was beginning to overcome it.

And she heard a voice. It was Futayo’s shout that could be called a battle cry.

“Ohhhhhh!!”

Immediately afterwards, an especially loud noise and an explosion of bright sparks burst from atop the bridge.

Futayo thrust the tip of Tonbokiri toward Kimi’s chest.

She did not hold back. She added the force of the thrusting spear to her own speed to increase the speed of the attack. She could not reach this opponent without doing so.

Her speed was already near its limit. Her legs were filled with heat and she was sweating horribly. She was also gasping for breath. Her movement spell was a type of bodily divine protection and it functioned using substation Blessings from several personal precept settings.

The bottom of her foot audibly struck the ground and that force added to her speed.

“Ohhhh!!”

Sparks burst out.

“!”

She made it through.

The tip of her spear continued past that special barrier that felt gentle and viscous.

She continued on. And the blade arrived at Kimi’s sweaty chest. For just an instant, the tip pressed in the white skin and flesh, but the elasticity of the skin quickly caused it to return and the blade stabbed through.

Her weapon pierced her opponent.

She did not hold back. A few red drops of blood rose up between the tip and the rest of the blade. They bulged out and then spilled down the front of Kimi’s cleavage.

And yet Futayo saw a smile on Kimi’s face ahead of her.

She showed off her teeth and seemed to be enjoying herself.

But…

“————”

As her lips moved, she was no longer singing.

Her dance had stopped and her movements had taken a different form.

Futayo had caught up, but Kimi had not stopped.

“Why don’t you shout out as if crying?” she asked while still smiling.

Futayo heard her laugh.

And then Kimi loosened her flushed cheeks, bent her eyes in a smile, and drew back her head.

She twisted her body, held her arms forward so as to lift up her breasts, and stuck out her tongue.

Her wet tongue licked up the blood gathered between her raised breasts and then she placed the tip of her tongue on the spear tip sticking into her chest.

“Heh heh.”

The spear tip created a shallow split in her tongue.

Above the slimy pale red object, the color red welled up and spread out as if soaking in.

But Kimi shuddered as she let the color cover her tongue. She seemed to be greatly enjoying the flavor on the tip of her tongue as she licked her lips as if applying lipstick. She licked her lips again and lightly bit her lower lip to even out the coloring.

“…”

She let out a breath that was filled with the same heat as her flushed cheeks.

She took in a shallow breath, opened her lips, and narrowed her eyes.

“I am an indecent girl, don’t you think?”

A realization then came over Futayo.

…''Don’t tell me this was part of the dance!

Her question had been the same as the side shows and talking used in the pauses of songs and dances. When a dancer had a partner, she would perform a dialogue with that partner.

And Futayo realized that this was very bad.

…''I was asked the question while playing the role of the partner.

But she could think of nothing to say in response.

“Kh…”

Tonbokiri’s handle bent in her hands. A counterforce was sent back toward her.

The spear had been repelled because she had been unable to reply to Kimi during her dance.

Kimi gently raised her arms in preparation to continue the dance.

“How disappointing. I was hoping to teach you how this tastes.”

As soon as Kimi spoke, Futayo heard a high-pitched noise burst out and she was blown away.

She had been rejected because she had interfered with Kimi’s spell yet been unable to keep up.

After being blasted several meters away, Futayo made an instantaneous decision.

Her speed had been defeated, so she had only one other option.

…''I will win!

She had already stopped holding back.

But this decision went beyond the level of holding back or not.

“Tonbokiri!”

She would use Tonbokiri’s cutting power. That divine weapon used spells and other things to cut, so it was a sure thing.

Unlike her father, she was not an expert at using the weapon. She could not use the superior drive that cut phenomena. However, she could use the normal drive that activated the cutting power from a name.

If she used it, her opponent would die. She had to understand that likelihood.

Her opponent was a Far Eastern citizen and an academy student. The true enemy she needed to face was someone else.

…''But that enemy opposed my father as he used Tonbokiri!

The destruction of Mikawa meant that her father had not lost. However, the enemy who had opposed him was still alive.

Tonbokiri had not defeated that enemy.

…''Why!?

How strong had her father, the unparalleled in the east, been? How powerful was the famous spear of Tonbokiri?

…''Why?

Her question produced a shout.

“If you wish to take the fight to the outside world, you must at least surpass Tonbokiri!!”

The blade reflected Kimi and Futayo called out to the weapon.

“Bind, Tonbokiri!”

The user rights had already been set to her and she had tested it out in secret. She had been scolded for the furniture she destroyed, but she had simply been a bit unprepared. She had decided to try it on something smaller than a table next time.

…''How could I make a mistake like that!?

As she thought, she saw light run along Tonbokiri’s blade.

The cutting power raced out.

Yoshinao had stopped moving.

His hand held forward to stop them and his opened mouth were both frozen in place.

“…”

He returned his hand to his side and closed his mouth.

As he watched, no one else was moving. Futayo who stood with her back to him while holding Tonbokiri, Kimi standing beyond her, and his wife by his side were all motionless. The same was true of everyone on both the port and starboard sides.

He heard a voice from behind him and to the right.

“Heh heh. You’re more hairy than I thought. Quit blushing. I know a dirty beast like you isn’t innocent.”

“Dirty? Dirty? Dirty joke?”

But those voices did not count, so he ignored them.

He focused forward.

…''If she used that cutting power…

Kimi would have been unable to avoid it.

“…”

Just as he had expected, the sleeves hanging from Kimi’s arms had been cut in two horizontally.

As the sleeves fell down, the wind caught them and tossed them through the air. The body of her uniform and the waist of her suit had been cut in two as well, so they too fluttered in the wind.

However…

“Oh, dear. What if I catch cold?”

Kimi calmly stroked the exposed skin from below her breasts down to her navel.

Her fingers wiped sweat from her skin, but she was unharmed.

Yet the cut clothing proved that the cutting power had reached her.

“…?”

Yoshinao’s question must have reached his wife because new strength filled the hand tugging on his sleeve.

Futayo’s back swayed a bit in front of his eyes.

“What?”

Her voice held clear surprise.

Futayo tilted her head as she watched Kimi stroke her sweaty skin.

“Heh heh heh. Hopeless girl, what has you so surprised?”

“But…”

For a moment, Futayo seemed to be thinking, but she finally made up her mind.

“May I try again?”

“What kind of ridiculous request is that!?” shouted the surrounding crowd in unison.

Futayo flinched back, but Kimi looked down at her outfit which had been slit top from bottom and contained the remains of the sleeves on the wrists.

“Could you cut this part away from below the chest? It’s all sweaty.”

“I just need to adjust the angle. …Can you do it, Tonbokiri?”

“I can,” replied the spear.

“Okay.” Futayo prepared herself. “Bind, Tonbokiri.”

As Kimi held her arms diagonally outward, the remains of the sleeves split in two and fell off. The area of the uniform below her breasts was cut once more and a tube-shaped piece of cloth opened up and fell away from her abdomen.

Kimi’s body was now fully exposed from below the breasts down to below her navel.

But…

“…You are unharmed.”

Hearing Futayo’s comment, Kimi tilted her head and used a finger to wipe up some of the blood on her injured chest.

“Heh heh heh. What a fool. Of course I am unharmed.”

“How can you be so certain!?”

“Because Tonbokiri cuts names. I use many stage names such as Josephine and Suzanne. Those names hold little weight and a blade will always slip to where it can cut the easiest.”

“W-wait!” shouted Futayo. “It may reduce the power, but Tonbokiri can still cut stage names and machine designations!”

“Oh, is that so? That is too bad. Whenever that spear has cut a stage name or something similar, it must have been with someone ''who truly believed that name referred to them''.”

“Then what are those stage names to you?”

“A fashion. They are no different from clothes. That is why they were cut along with my clothes.”

Yoshinao heard Kimi laugh.

“A flower’s name has nothing to do with the flower itself. It is merely something someone else gave it. No matter how much that name is defiled, it means nothing at all to the flower. …If you are going to rely on that when you attack, your power will need to increase a thousand-fold before you can reach me.”

As she spoke, Kimi stepped forward.

Futayo tried to back away, but Kimi continued forward and stood in front of her.

“Open your eyes.”

She slapped Futayo’s cheek.

''Such a pain,'' thought Kimi as she threw another slap.

As she felt the clear noise travelling through her hand, she knew what she had to say.

“You made three mistakes.”

She slapped in the opposite direction.

“To begin with… Heh heh. It was all over for you from the moment you opposed a girl as wonderful as me. After all, a proper girl will not lose to anyone but the one they have fallen for.”

Another slap, another high-pitched noise.

“Secondly, it seems speed is your main selling point, but you cast it aside after someone as dignified as me rejected you just once. Even if you know I am a poor match, you are supposed to show your will power by attacking again and again. If you cannot do that, I will never let you reach my body or heart.”

She threw a backhand slap and placed her fingers on Futayo’s cheek.

Her cheek was swollen from the slaps and it was covered in blood that had scattered from Kimi’s fingers.

Kimi wiped off that blood and spread it on Futayo’s lips as lipstick.

“Are you listening?” began Kimi. “Lastly, you should not be obeying that cosplaying King of Musashi, the Testament Union, or your own insufficient brains that told you this is for the sake of the Far East.”

“But…”

“If you are a Far Eastern samurai, then isn’t it your duty to obey the ruler of the Far East?”

Kimi placed her hands on her hips and thrust out her chest along with Uzy on her shoulder.

“As a samurai, it is your duty to rescue Horizon! Just how badly do you have to mess that up to actually make her your enemy!? If you understand, then prostrate yourself before me! Sit!!”

As she shouted and pointed, Futayo paused and then lowered her head.

“Judge!!”

She forcefully placed her knees and hands on the floor and she swung her hair forward.

“I gave this too much thought and was on the verge of making a horrible mistake! You may have an indecent body, but you gave me, your enemy, accurate advice! I am in your debt!!”

“Heh heh. Foolish girl, as long as you understand.”

Kimi then turned toward her brother who was smiling and embracing a bucket.

“Heh heh heh. Foolish brother, do you have anything to say?”

“Yeah. Thanks a bunch.” He continued on. “I’m glad to have you as my sis.”

Kimi did not stop a gentle smile from welling up from below her cheeks.

“I see.” She nodded and turned toward Yoshinao. “Heh heh heh. King, what will you do now? I have won.”

But before he could answer, a voice spoke from the sky.

“That’s right. What are you going to do, hm?” said the calm, deep voice. “What decision will the Testament Union-appointed King of Musashi make? Will you transfer your royal authority as the former chancellor suggested earlier?”

Now…

“What will it be? Give me your answer, King of Musashi.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter_32|Chapter 32]]
| [[Horizon:Volume_1B_Chapter_34|Chapter 34]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter 34

2016-03-19T23:41:41Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 34: Those Running Toward the Borderline */

==Chapter 34: Those Running Toward the Borderline==
[[Image:Horizon1B_469.jpg|thumb]]
''How much do people

''Make the past their peak?

'''Point Allocation (From Here On)

What would he do with the authority of king?

On the bridge in front of Musashi Ariadust Academy’s school building, Yoshinao thought about the Papa-Schola’s question he heard behind him.

…''How should we respond?

If he clearly sided with the Testament Union he would be the only one with any real power in Musashi.

The previous battle had settled the conflict among the students. The authority of the Chancellor’s Officers and Student Council would return to Aoi Toori and the others.

They would be able to decide the future course of Musashi and the Far East.

However, Yoshinao remained. The Testament Union had given him the right to veto any decision made in Musashi.

Aoi Toori had asked him to transfer the authority of king to him, but that was impossible.

Doing so would leave no one to reject them.

Also, the King of Musashi had the authority to make practical decisions for the Musashi. Transferring that authority would give him full control of the Musashi as a ship.

If Aoi Toori became King of Musashi, no one could deny him anything and he could use the Musashi as he wished.

But the Testament Union viewed him as dangerous and they would use that as justification for opposing Musashi.

Yoshinao wanted to avoid that opposition if at all possible.

…''And the words of the adults are generally correct.

He felt adventure was important, but he also felt one must not act rashly or despair due to a lack of experience. Even if he was to respect their wishes, he needed to stop any recklessness and urge them to be careful.

…''But what would happen if Horizon Ariadust did return as a princess?

If she desired her power as ruler, she would come into conflict with his position as King of Musashi.

Transferring the title of king to her would avoid a revolution by the people, but that would once again leave everything to those inexperienced youths.

As he wondered what should be done, he asked a question.

“Aoi Toori, what will you do once you rescue her?”

“I will regain everything.”

They had heard that the Logismoi Óplo had been made with her emotions.

“And what will you do once you regain everything?”

“I will be with her,” he replied. He then continued. “After all, I don’t want to say goodbye. But…”

At that word, the tug of Yoshinao’s wife’s hand on his left sleeve strengthened.

“We, you all are telling me to leave her, aren’t you?”

“Well…”

Yoshinao started to speak but stopped.

…''What ''are'' we doing?

What had he thought when he had left his territory to the Testament Union long ago?

He had more or less known what the Testament Union would do.

…''But we thought it was better than letting them be destroyed.

If he was with them, the people would have relied on him and not feared making an enemy of a nation.

And so he decided the people would give up on fighting if he left. If he had not put them under the protection of the Testament Union while he still could, it would have all been over.

…''But…

That land had completely changed and the people had scattered.

What did that mean?

He felt conflict was a bad thing.

But he also felt he should have remained in that land.

…''What should we have done?

As he thought that, he heard the boy’s voice.

“We, the King of Musashi shouldn’t be worrying that much. A king’s gotta be dignified, right? Am I wrong?”

Those words helped Yoshinao make up his mind.

And he spoke his decision.

The people of Musashi saw the King of Musashi flip up his cape on top of the bridge.

The red cloth and gold staff moved. He let go of the queen’s hand and puffed out his chest while standing next to her.

“As promised, we will return the authority of the Chancellor’s Officers and Student Council.”

The king’s words brought a moment silence.

“————”

And it was quickly followed by cheers.

However…

“But!”

Yoshinao continued speaking so as to silence the cheers rising from the Musashi’s deck.

“We cannot transfer our authority as king! Not even when Princess Horizon returns. The Testament Union sent us to Musashi to be its king!”

That announcement silenced the crowd, but it brought a laugh from the sky.

“Ha,” said Innocentius within the sign frame. “Ha ha ha! That’s what I thought. Your fear of opposing the Testament Union won’t let you transfer your authority as king, but Musashi can never gain freedom like that. No matter what, you remain under the control of the Testament Union.”

“However…”

The king’s continued words stopped Innocentius’s laughter.

In the silence that brought, Yoshinao spoke slowly.

“To bear the responsibility of gathering the Logismoi Óplo and resolving the Apocalypse, we will share our authority with two viceroys who will act as our assistants. The shared authority shall be split with us having two shares and each viceroy having a single share. Also, we appoint Far East Representative and Mikawa Ruler Horizon Ariadust as one viceroy and Musashi Ariadust Academy Student Council President and Chancellor Toori Aoi as the other.”

Which meant…

“King of Musashi!!” shouted Innocentius. “So you are effectively giving a portion of your authority as king to the students of Musashi!?”

“We retain the royal right to veto, your holiness. After all, with our upcoming duty, there will be times when an immediate decision will be needed even if something were to happen to us. It is only logical to create a viceregal position to act under us. By our reckoning, this will not interfere with the role of ‘guide’ that the Testament Union gave us. If you insist we are opposing the Testament Union in this action, please explain why so that we may do our best to remove any misunderstandings.”

“Have you gone mad!? No, have you grown intoxicated on sentimentality and taken the students’ side, King of Musashi!?”

“Your holiness.” Yoshinao lightly bent his knees and lowered his head. “Even one as low as us is the king of the small nation of Musashi. We cannot directly face you as we are not a student, but our position is still equal to yours. We will ignore that comment as a mere jest. After all, we are still the King of Musashi. …And as king, we must never leave our people and we must share in those people’s suffering and hardships so that we might do our best to resolve them.”

And…

“Your holiness, you are the head of the Tsirhc Catholics, you are the representative of K.P.A. Italia, and you are one representative of the Testament Union. …However, you are not the Testament Union itself. If you wish to say the Testament Union finds fault in our actions, you must first hold a Testament Union Representative Council with representatives from all the Testament Union academies.”

“A Testament Union Representative Council is a type of international council. To hold a council in this era, we must use the history recreation of the ecumenical council or something similar. However, the Testament shows no further ecumenical councils since the end of the Council of Trent which displayed the Counter-Reformation against the Protestants.”

“There is one council you can use.”

Yoshinao looked down at his hand.

He held a piece of paper soaked in ink. It had been crumpled up and a brown algae creature had brought it to him.

However, the creatures spoke as they hopped up from the bucket Toori held.

“Have this.”

“Important. Masazumi gave it.”

Yoshinao nodded and looked at the text on the note. It was wet with ink, but he could still read it.

“Someone has already planned where you should hold the Testament Union Representative Council.”

Yoshinao glanced to the port side where he saw someone standing in the schoolyard.

It was Masazumi.

She took a step forward, placed a hand on her chest, and spoke clearly.

“There is one council given in the last Testament description before it ceased updating. It is not an ecumenical council, but it could be called Europe’s very first political international council. That council is the Peace of Westphalia.”

She took a breath.

“That council brought an end to the religious war between the Protestants and Catholics known as the Thirty Years’ War as well as other wars. It also created several international laws. Due to the Apocalypse, people are viewing that council as accepting the destruction of the world; but how about you use that council to determine whether Musashi and the Far East are in the wrong or not?”

With Kimi returned, all of the students except Toori were gathered on the port side. They had gathered around to discuss what Masazumi had said.

“What is the Peace of Westphalia?” asked Tenzou.

Neshinbara answered as he produced a sign frame to display historical material.

“As Honda-kun said, it is a peace council for the Thirty Years’ War and some other wars. It began in 1644 and includes the council for both the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück. The decisions were written up in the Treaty of Westphalia which was signed on October 24, 1648. The treaty gave structure to the national sovereignty which Honda-kun mentioned earlier, it defined national borders, and it gave independence to Holland and Switzerland.”

“What did the peace treaty say?”

“Hexagone Française and Sweden expanded while the principalities within M.H.R.R. gained sovereignty and the power of the emperor was weakened. That’s why people are discussing whether it can be used to crush P.A. Oda which is working along with M.H.R.R.”

As he spoke, Neshinbara looked up at the king’s back on the bridge as well as Masazumi’s back in front of him.

“The early battles of the Thirty Years’ War are already beginning, so the representatives of the academies will have to gather in the M.H.R.R. region of Westphalia to question the justice of our actions. …At the very least, we are not just or evil until that happens.”

“That’s right,” agreed Masazumi with a glance back toward the group. “It may be odd for me to say something here, but…”

“Heh heh heh. Flat chest worshipper, my foolish brother has given his approval, so we can’t have you not giving your political point of view.”

Kimi’s comment caused Masazumi to smile bitterly toward the ground.

“By leaving this to the representative council, we gain a justification for Musashi’s safety.” She nodded. “We are relying on the Testament Union’s decision concerning our existence, but the Testament Union is an organization. No matter how much a single member shouts at us, it does not qualify as a decision. And so each nation will need its own justification if it is to oppose us.”

“But that means you must be prepared for conflict with the Testament Union until the Peace of Westphalia,” said Innocentius. “After all, that conflict will continue until the peace council ends. Each nation will act out of its desire for the Far East until you arrive there.”

In other words…

“Musashi will be in an all-out conflict against the Testament Union until Westphalia.”

“If there is an end in sight, there is meaning in persisting. Our goal is to arrive at Westphalia, to prove to the other nations that siding with us is in their best interest, and to gather the Logismoi Óplo in order to save the world from the Apocalypse.”

Masazumi raised a finger toward the image of the pope-chancellor’s face in the sky.

She raised her eyebrows in a smile.

“We will return the Logismoi Óplo to their rightful owner. Then the nations in conflict with us will merely be hindering us from resolving the Apocalypse.”

Everyone followed her gaze as she looked up toward the bridge.

Yoshinao, his wife, and Toori stood there.

Toori seemed to want people to focus on him because he danced around behind Yoshinao and hid everything but his arms behind the man to make it look like the man had four arms.

“What are you doing?” asked Innocentius.

“Is that any way to talk to me, pope!?”

“You’re one to talk,” muttered everyone else, but Toori ignored them.

Everyone started whispering amongst themselves.

“There’s a lot alike about those two.”

“I think the only difference is their position.”

“No, I think the pope-chancellor would excommunicate himself if he groped someone’s breasts.”

“I am growing very sick of this, so I will keep it short,” said Innocentius. “As a representative of the Testament Union, I sense danger in Musashi’s decision. You possess a Logismoi Óplo, you are interfering with the recreation of the history descriptions, and Mikawa must be restored. K.P.A. Italia insists on an immediate resolution to these three issues.”

Namely…

“As initially planned, Horizon Ariadust will commit suicide, the Logismoi Óplo will be extracted, and Musashi’s authority will be transferred to restore Mikawa.”

“I see. Then you go do your thing.” Toori’s voice filled the air. “And I’ll go confess to Horizon.”

“Damn you!”

“Shut up. I’ll say it again!”

Toori pointed directly at the face displayed in the sky.

“Old man, what do you think you’re doing right now!?” he shouted. “You’ve captured my (or soon to be my) Horizon and are executing her!? But right now… What was it? Um… Oh! Right now you have her stripped naked and bound with chains! Ahhh, and you’re torturing her in all sorts of wet and messy ways, aren’t you!? Dammit, you have a really perverted religion, you know that!?”

“We are doing nothing of the sort!!”

As everyone watched the ''cadena firma'' next to the Tres Españan tent, they turned toward their commander.

As they glared at him, he frantically shook his head.

“W-we really aren’t doing that.”

“No, you definitely are!” continued the boy on the screen. “I know you are! I’ve studied enough porn games to know that! The Catholic witch hunts and princess tormenting are entire genres, you know!? That’s a standard!”

“What does that have to do with anything!?”

“Shut up!” Musashi’s chancellor bent his body and struck a pose. “Listen! You’ve set a fire in my lewd heart!! I won’t forgive you now!!”

Gin then spoke.

“I do not understand what he is saying, but he has brought momentum to his side.”

“Gin, you do not need to force a compliment,” said Muneshige. “But this is going to lead to war.”

Meanwhile, the Papa-Schola spoke once more.

“I will give you a warning. We will act as planned. If you interfere, it will produce a confrontation between students as per the academy rules. I do not feel like saying anything more.”

With that, the ''cadena firma'' vanished.

In its place, the high-pitched noise of a whistle sounded.

The whistle continued for a long while and traveled far into the distance. It was followed by Oriotorai’s voice.

“Musashi Ariadust Academy’s side has won this confrontation! Everyone involved, please act in accordance with the initial agreement! This has been carried out with the Testament Union’s approval.”

She took a breath.

“And so rescuing Mikawa Ruler Horizon Ariadust is the official decision of the Far East!!”

People could be heard crying out. Some were cheering and others sounded uncertain or determined.

But those voices communicated a certain fact.

The confrontation meant to determine Musashi’s will had come to an end.

As the wind indicating the end of the afternoon blew through and as people’s voices filled the air, Yoshinao heard Toori speak from next to him.

“Now then. It’s time to get going.”

“Wait.”

Yoshinao wanted to ask him how he could be so lighthearted, but Toori turned toward him before he could.

With a smile on his face, he looked at Yoshinao and his wife.

“We, you can be surprisingly reckless. I thought you were just the obedient type who always does the safe thing and chooses the glasses girl from the library committee when he plays a porn game.”

Yoshinao’s wife brought a hand to her lips and laughed.

“But I was on the athletics committee.”

“Oh! Way to go, We! You have a hidden side to you! Are you actually a wild beast!?”

“Quiet down.”

His crest had once been a wild beast and he did not feel like arguing the issue.

But then Toori faced forward.

He said nothing more and simply began walking.

“Wait. Do you not need help?”

Yoshinao had assumed he would call out to someone else because he could do nothing himself. However, Toori spoke to no one in particular while walking down the stairs alone.

“I can’t do anything. …But there’s a little something I want to do.”

He took a breath.

“So I’m gonna head out for a bit.”

Everyone listened to him speak as he descended the stairs.

“Listen. All of you taught me that we can rescue Horizon if we work together.”

And so…

“You don’t have to rescue her. I’m the one that wants to. You don’t have to stick with me any longer.”

He walked.

“Despite what he said, that old pope guy won’t do anything if all of you don’t do anything. If I go and get scolded a bit, that’ll be the end of it.”

But…

“For me, just knowing there’s a way to save her is enough. ''Horizon isn’t someone who can only die. She isn’t someone who has no option besides being killed.'' Just knowing that is great. At the very least, I know Horizon wasn’t born just to die.”

He smiled.

“Even if I can’t do it, all of you can. So remember this: if you ever have someone important to you and they’re in trouble, you can save them.”

He continued walking.

“You all can do it. As someone who can’t, I guarantee it.”

Yoshinao started to call out to Toori as he walked down the stairs.

…''That fool!

He was doing the same thing Yoshinao had long ago. He had once thought that his absence would protect his territory, but that had not happened.

He hesitated to say it because it would reveal a mistake of his past.

But…

“Wai-…”

Just as he started speaking, his wife tugged on his sleeve.

“Honey.”

…''She is trying to stop us?

Wondering why, he looked around in surprise.

He heard a noise.

Among Musashi Ariadust Academy’s Chancellor’s Officers, Student Council members, Aoi Toori’s classmates, and the guard unit on the port side, some people began walking, some began jogging, and they all started toward the stairs leading down from the bridge.

…''Are they…?

All of them had exasperated looks or bitter smiles. Some of them were using their handheld shrines to presumably contact their families.

“Yeah, sorry. But I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do this.”

With comments like that, they all arrived at the staircase. And as Yoshinao watched from above, they turned their backs to him and began following Toori.

The crowd gathered below watched Toori and the group gathering behind him.

“Oh…”

They let out voices and opened a path. It looked like a canyon forming to create a straight path along the earth.

And the group traveled down that path. Yoshinao viewed them as moving toward something rather than leaving.

After all…

“They intend to retrieve the princess.”

As he spoke, Yoshinao thought.

…''We have a feeling the people of our former territory were like this too.

He had decided to leave them in an attempt to protect them because he had been trying to protect them all on his own.

…''That is not how it is done.

They were meant to work together to protect the place in which they could be together.

He belatedly realized that a king was meant to make everyone want to do that. He had tried to protect them but had only convinced himself that he had done so.

And then he heard a voice from behind him.

“Oh, I need to take them back.”

A short figure arrived with loud footsteps.

He saw a girl wearing glasses, a uniform with hard points too large for her body, and a vassal’s mobile shell connection parts as shoes. He was fairly certain her name was Adele.

She picked up the bucket containing the brown algae creatures in her right hand and she held something else in her left hand.

…''A vassal’s heavy spear?

He had occasionally seen her with a training spear for a mobile shell. She had used the same the night before. However, this was his first time seeing this one with an actual blade attached.

And he saw a beast crest on the handle of the old heavy spear.

…''That is the crest of our territory.

“Y-you! Adele-kun!”

“Eh? What is it, king?”

She frantically turned around. It seemed she had not expected to have her name called. Worried he had frightened her, he worked to restrain himself.

“Where are you originally from?”

“Eh?” she replied with a sidelong glance toward the others going on ahead. But she soon nodded and smiled. “Well, I was born on the Musashi. My father moved around a lot, though.”

“Is that so? And your father?”

“Judge.” She nodded and the ends of her eyebrows lowered a bit. “He has passed away, but I hear he was from Hexagone Française.”

His wife tugged on his sleeve, but Adele continued speaking without being asked.

“It seems our Balfette family was originally from a small self-governed territory near the border with Tres España. According to my father, the king was a good person but he was a bit too considerate. When the territory was trapped between Tres España and Hexagone Française, that king ultimately sold himself to the Testament Union in exchange for the promised safety of the territory. …Of course, the Testament Union didn’t keep up their end of the bargain.”

He listened.

“My father would always say he wondered if the king sold himself because he and the other people didn’t do a good enough job. He said the king could have been braver, but they still should have done more themselves. And that’s why he would always tell me to protect my king.”

“…”

“Ah ha ha.” Adele laughed and raised her baggy sleeves. “But I still can’t properly use the mobile shell he left for me.”

“And what are you going to do now?”

“Judge.” She immediately responded to his question. “I am on my way to protect our king.”

She smiled before continuing.

“I’m glad.”

“About what?”

“That you were so brave just now. I think my dad must have been glad he came to Musashi.”

Hearing that, Yoshinao took in a breath. He felt a trembling on the edge of his cheek, but he still puffed out his chest.

“Of course! The King of Musashi must be brave!!”

“Judge. I’ll be going now.”

“Te-…”

He started to see her off by saying “testament”, but he stopped.

“Judge,” he said instead. “Did I pronounce that correctly?”

“Judge!”

“Judge. Now go protect your king.”

His wife grabbed his hand rather than his sleeve. By the time he squeezed her slender fingers in return, the vassal with the beast crest was already starting down the stairs.

Also…

“Who is that?”

The crowd of people split along a side road on the starboard side. They formed a path for someone who was meeting up with the others.

As the people took a step back, the person came into view.

“Azuma-kun!”

“Now, then. Things have gotten noisy again up above.”

Two figures sat on a wheelchair in a small room with no walls.

Miriam held a small girl whose naked body was partially transparent.

She operated the wheelchair.

“Can this thing enter cradle mode? It’s pretty old.”

She was unsure, but the wheelchair did its job. It began shaking like it was being rocked by very, very gentle waves.

As it shook with the rise and fall of breathing, the girl placed her head on Miriam’s chest.

“Are you sleepy?” she asked.

The girl shook her head and got up again.

“Where’s papa?”

“Is mama not good enough?”

The girl thought for a moment and shook her head.

However…

“Where’s papa?”

“Why do I feel so humiliated? Does that boy emit some kind of charismatic power that only works on little girls?”

She thought for a moment and looked up at the ceiling from which distant cheers could occasionally be heard. She then turned to the door which no longer had any guards outside it.

And then the girl in her arms spoke.

“Mama? You aren’t going to papa?”

“Eh?” Miriam looked at her own body, the wheelchair, and the girl in her arms. “Well, there are a lot of issues and I’m fine with being here for the time being. As things are, I can’t even open the door or go out. …And none of my classmates are going to stop by today.”

She lightly embraced the girl and let the rocking of the wheelchair take over as she looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

“Do your best, everyone. I’ll be waiting.”

As soon as she said that, a sudden knock came to the room’s sliding door.

“Um, Miriam Poqou-san? This is Sanyou from the teaching staff. Oriotorai-sensei told me to bring you a report on today’s events in place of one of the students. May I come in?”

“Oh, yes.”

At that very moment, the little girl suddenly got down from the wheelchair.

“I’m coming in, okay?”

The girl ran toward the sliding door, leaving Miriam behind.

“Ah, w-wait.”

As she spoke, a glasses-wearing teacher slid open the door and peeked inside. Miriam held her head in her hands when she saw the translucent naked girl raise her hands in greeting.

This would further spread the misunderstandings about Azuma.

“Hey, Azuma. Should you really be out here?”

As Azuma joined the group of walking students, he heard Toori speak without turning around.

…''He’s worried about me. But…

“I’m fine.”

He had made up his mind after speaking with Miriam and thinking about all sorts of things on his own.

…''There are people my presence here will influence.

The emperor had great influence, but he wanted to help his friends. He had spoken with Miriam and decided to make his appearance after the political decision had been made. For those attempting to act on that decision, he could convince anyone who opposed their decision and act as a landmark if they had to make an emergency retreat.

As he walked, Heidi spoke from next to him.

“What happened with that girl from yesterday?”

“Once everything settles down, I plan to go to a police box to discuss the issue. Right now, Miriam is…” Realizing he had just used her first name, he frantically corrected himself. “Poqou-san is looking after her.”

“Oh? Poqou-san is? Is that so?”

Everyone turned fairly scornful smiles toward him and then exchanged a glance.

“Who would have thought the crown prince was that sort of character.”

“S-stop it! You’re being rude to Poqou-san!”

They all laughed. The surrounding people opened a path, but there was more than just confusion on their faces. Some looked doubtful, but others looked hopeful and others even nodded toward them.

They walked down the stairs and headed for the road. As they did, a familiar face appeared in front of them.

“Principal Sakai.”

Beyond a crowd that had already split down the middle, Sakai stood with “Musashi” by his side. He raised a hand.

“Hey. Are you on your way to battle?”

Sakai’s greeting was answered by Toori at the head of the group.

“Hey, principal,” he said with a smile. “If you were here, you should’ve helped us a bit. Seijun was about to cry.”

“I was not.”

“Ha ha. I’m not a student anymore. Also, it would have just irritated the pope-chancellor to see me. That’s why I’ve been hiding.”

“Are you going to stop my classmates and I, principal?”

“That would be ‘my classmates and me’.”

After responding to Asama’s comment, Sakai took a pipe case out of his pocket.

“I’m not going to stop you. I had my own fight with the pope back in the day.”

He placed the kiseru in his mouth.

“This is difficult. I’m not sure what to say at times like this. …I like saying things like ‘work hard’ or ‘do your best’. After all, doing those says nothing about ''whether you succeed or not''. I’m not telling you to definitely achieve something. As long as you work hard and do your best, it doesn’t matter whether you actually achieve anything or not. I like that kind of lenient way of doing things.”

“…”

“Those who can achieve something will do so. They know the trick. But those who don’t know the trick need to work hard and do their best in order to buy time until they can learn the trick. In other words, don’t work hard or do your best in order to achieve something. Do it to learn the trick you need to achieve something. After all, once you know the trick, you just have to pour all your energy into that.”

He spoke.

“The time you spend working hard and doing your best is a break. It’s an early mock exam.”

So…

“When you’re taking the actual exam, don’t work hard and don’t do your best. You don’t have time for that there. Simply use everything you’ve accumulated up until that point. And if you use all of that and it still isn’t enough…” He took a breath. “Then just make sure you come back alive.”

Adele asked a question as she caught up with the others.

“Is that how it was for you, principal?”

“Well, I wasn’t the principal back then. …But I had a trick to getting by on the battlefield. And that let me just barely survive.”

He smiled bitterly and breathed smoke from the corner of his mouth.

“The Far East’s academies don’t teach combat, but your teachers have done the best they could. You should have the knowledge necessary. Also, you’ve thought for yourselves about how to fight. So gather everything you have and give it your best shot. We managed and we taught you, so you should be able to manage even better.”

He indicated behind him with his chin and a sign frame appeared next to him.

“Toori, I’ve sent you Horizon’s enrollment recommendation. Take it with you. And make sure all of you come back, Horizon included.”

He received a single word of response from all of them.

“Judge!”

And with that word, they started to walk once more.

A group watched from above as the students walked through the crowd of people on the street.

That group was the Provisional Council gathered on the starboard side of Musashi Ariadust Academy’s schoolyard.

While resting their elbows on the schoolyard fence or puffing on kiseru, they watched the people of Musashi open a path for the students. The people almost seemed to be avoiding them.

However…

“So they really are going with them.”

True to that muttered comment, the students on the staircase and road followed the others. Almost all of the students in the academy were following them now.

And…

“…”

Some of the normal people began to follow them to as if seeing them off or as if being sucked in.

“This will be a conflict between students. We and the other normal people can no longer do anything directly. This is the first true battle for Musashi.”

“It isn’t fair that the students get to settle everything. The other nations have no upper age limit on students, so it isn’t so bad. But in the Far East, seeing them off like this is so irritating.”

“I will do everything I can to profit here. I will use everything available to me. Young Bertoni and the Mitotsudaira family will make a fuss, but nothing says the normal people must cooperate on all fronts.”

“True,” agreed a man in a suit.

A merchant with a cross hanging from his neck spoke with a smile from next to that man.

“Masanobu-kun, how do you think your daughter, Masazumi-kun, did?”

Masanobu, the man in the suit, was not the one to answer. He had a cigar in his mouth and the men and woman across from him answered instead.

“You’re too cold to that cute girl. She’s always doubting herself. It just makes me want to protect her!”

“The secretaries even got into a fistfight over who would see her home last night, but she ended up leaving on her own.”

“She really surprised those secretaries, although she didn’t realize it herself. All of us hold different positions and our secretaries blathered on and on trying to show off to her, but she managed to combine all of it together and understand it.”

“Yes,” said Masanobu. “But she is completely useless as a politician. Conflict should be avoided, so what kind of politician causes it? Her debate essentially ended in a tie, so she has achieved nothing.”

“She avoided having us go along with what the Testament Union and K.P.A. Italia say. Also, she gave us our justification. If K.P.A. Italia refuses to back off, we can always use that justification.”

Masanobu then replied to the merchant next to him.

“But it disqualifies her from being a politician. Or at least, from being ''a Musashi politician'' like those of us on the Provisional Council.”

“Then…”

“I am saying she should aim to be something other than ''a Musashi politician'',” said Masanobu plainly. “She failed to inherit a historical name and she is not sure who she is, but that inexperienced daughter of mine instinctually chose to be something other than a politician like me. Do you understand? Even a merchant can handle compromise and calculations. And we can provide advice on political decisions. In that case, what Musashi needs right now is not a Musashi politician like us or a bureaucrat council member.”

Instead…

“Musashi needs a politician to act as a prime minister with absolute authority. It needs someone who will provide their king with the answer and the absolute justification he needs.”

“…”

“Konishi, do not forget that we did not interfere today. We are no longer students. So if they do not realize they hold the special privilege of being a student, we will keep it that way. And if we do not…” He brushed a hand through his hair. “How ridiculous. If they had gone with what we recommended, all responsibility would have been forced onto us.”

“Masanobu-kun, I think your expression of love is a bit too twisted.”

“That’s right. That’s right,” agreed the others.

“You’re always being mean to our secret idol. It makes me want to protect her!”

“Ho ho. Personally, just seeing a girl who looks so good cross-dressing cheers me up.”

As he was showered with boos, the corner of Masanobu’s mouth loosened.

“Are you jealous?”

As the booing intensified, Konishi spoke from next to him.

“But why didn’t you come here sooner?”

“Well, I wanted to see who Musashi’s next chancellor would be. It is unfortunate what that delay meant for my wife.”

“…Musashi’s chancellor?”

“I heard an interesting story from Sakai-sama when he assisted me in Mikawa. This was about ten years ago and he said there was a dumb boy in Musashi.”

He took a breath.

“And that boy had a girl he liked.”

While breathing out smoke, he watched the departing group that included his daughter.

“Due to the circumstances surrounding that girl’s birth, others were always looking out for her. Soon after entering the academy’s elementary school, she was asked to write about her dream in class.”

“Her dream?”

“Everyone in the class wrote about their dream. The class had a variety of dreams: ‘I want to be the world’s greatest merchant’, ‘I want to be the world’s greatest author’, ‘I want to become a knight and protect people’, ‘I want to fill the world with curry’, ‘…’, ‘I want to be the best woman in the world’, etc. Now, this girl gave the following dream: ‘I hope everyone’s dreams come true’.”

However…

“All of them knew their dreams would not come true. After all, they were residents of the Far East. As long as they lived in the Far East, they could have wonderful dreams, but those dreams would never come true.”

“…”

“But…”

But…

“But the dumb boy said the following: ‘I will become a king’.” Masanobu smiled. “ ‘I will become a king and create a kingdom where everyone’s dream can come true’ ‘I will become a king and create a kingdom where Horizon can have her own dream’.”

He smiled as he watched his daughter and the others.

“He probably just wanted to look good in front of the girl he liked. But that idiot was hopelessly blunt. If he wanted to make everyone’s dreams come true, becoming a king was the only way. A politician, a merchant, or an engineer wouldn’t be enough. He would have to do what the people of the Far East were not allowed to hope for. He would have to defy the Testament Union and become a king that took back the entirety of the Far East! And only that boy was able to say it.”

And…

“I heard that the others made an oath. They said that idiot was truly an idiot, but they vowed to help him become king if he remained an idiot. And they asked him to become a king and create a kingdom where all their dreams could come true.”

He laughed.

“Didn’t I say it was interesting? We just might witness a king born from the Far East.”

“Then you…?”

“A part of it may have been my desire to escape from Masazumi and how horribly honest she is. But…I’m glad I came. When that boy showed his desire to be chancellor, I did everything I could to make it happen. But then Masazumi came along, was completely useless as a councilor, and started to become something else…”

He sighed.

“I too am inexperienced. I saw that it would end like this, so I hesitated. I wanted it, and yet I tried to push it away. …But this way is a lot more fun, isn’t it, Masazumi?”

He blew smoke from the corner of his mouth and faced forward. He looked toward the group containing his daughter and the boy who wished to be king.

“How nice.” He breathed out more smoke. “If only I were still a student!”

Konishi lightly tapped his shoulder.

When Masanobu turned around with a frown, Konishi nodded and loosened the fastener of his clothes.

“It’s not all bad. We can still take part in our own way.”

Konishi showed off the shirt under his clothes which had the face of a savage magic girl printed on the chest.

When Masanobu saw it, he and the other councilors brought a hand to their chests and closed their eyes.

“It’s a good thing they didn’t realize who that was last night.”

Toori walked with the others and entered Remorse Way.

With no fear, panic, tension, or anything else, he walked down that road, passed by the stone monument, and thought.

…''Oh, that’s right.

He scratched at his head.

“My remorse is nothing compared to how thankful I am now.”

He heard the footsteps of all the people behind him and that noise seemed to push at his back.

“Neshinbara, you work with the guard unit to put together a strategy. And…Honda Futayo.”

“What do you need?”

Toori heard that voice and the sound of armor rubbing together, but he did not turn around.

“You join our school. Could you be our vice chancellor? We can deal with the formalities later, so help us out now as a temporary vice chancellor.”

“As a samurai, I serve my ruler, Horizon-sama, and not you, but if you think that would be best.”

“If you’re doing it for Horizon, that’s good enough for me. …Also, Asama.”

Asama herself was not the only one to react to her name being called.

“…”

Everyone there cowered down. Tenzou, Urquiaga, Mitotsudaira, Suzu, and even Kimi gulped as Asama’s name was called here.

But Asama lightly twisted her body to settle the breath she had gulped and then took another breath.

“What is it?”

“It looks like everyone else is scared, but don’t worry about it. Anyway, you know that thing I left with you? The thing you forbade me from using? I think I’ll need it before long.”

However, it was not Asama who responded to that.

It was Kimi. She raised her shoulders a bit, crossed her arms, and gave an expression that could be seen as a smile.

“Heh heh heh. Foolish brother, you have not forgotten something important, have you?”

“No, I haven’t, sis. I can’t do anything on my own. If something happens, I have to rely on everyone else, but I don’t blame all of you for that. Also, I will never again…”

Never again…

“Think I should die.”

He turned his head to show Asama a smile.

“So could you make the preparations to put that through, Asama?”

Asama finally closed her eyes and gave a clear reply.

[[Image:Horizon1B_506-511.jpg|thumb]]

“You wouldn’t listen even if I said no.”

“Thanks.”

Toori then called for his sister and that sister’s voice arrived from a few steps behind him.

“Heh heh heh. Foolish brother, what is it? Are you scared? Or what? Are you giving me the right to use you as my slave for a day!? Nice!”

“Sis, have you forgotten that I always buy you a drink within three minutes? That isn’t it.”

While aware that the smile remained on his face, Toori took in a breath.

And he quickened his pace.

“If I’m rejected, could you make me breakfast just like old times? The one without all the salt.”

As he smiled, he continued speaking at the head of the group.

“Okay, let’s go, everyone. I’m relying on you.”

5:20 PM.

As the evening sun began to set over the western mountains, the K.P.A. Italia and Tres España troops deployed to the Mikawa land port sent out flight-enabled Gods of War to scout out Musashi’s group. At the same time, they began to send their front line forward.

In total they numbered 1427. Of those, approximately one thousand gathered at the western plain near the western exit from the mountain corridor. There they formed a closely packed fortress-like formation known as a Tercio. In conjunction with the aerial ships overhead, they would stop the Far Eastern forces from advancing.

At the same time as those troops advanced, the Tres Españan interrogation ship began to fill its Andamio de la Ejecución with light. That light would lead to the suicide of Mikawa Ruler Horizon Ariadust. The light would reach its peak at precisely 6:00 PM and the light would dismantle her body.

And at 5:22 PM, Musashi’s formation exited Mikawa’s mountainous region and arrived at the barrier connecting to the western plain forming the shell of the eastern mountain corridor. There, they checked over their respective equipment.

None of them spoke much, but they all understood a certain fact.

The student conflict in Mikawa and the longer conflict over the Logismoi Óplo and the Apocalypse it would lead to were about to begin.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 1B Chapter_33|Chapter 33]]
| [[Horizon:Volume_1B_Chapter_35|Chapter 35]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 2B Chapter 65

2016-03-19T23:39:47Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 65: One who Longs for 27.431m */

==Chapter 65: One who Longs for 27.431m==
[[Image:Horizon2B_0985.png|thumb]]
''That distance has no meaning

''What is desired

''In that distance?

'''Point Allocation (Run)

Shirojiro scattered money around.

Each time he swept it from the coin pot and into the air, he felt definite pleasure. The sensation of grasping the coins in his fingers and the sensation of them leaving those fingers and entering the air were both splendid.

…''Those who simply stockpile their money are such fools! They do not know this feeling!

Any who had never enjoyed themselves scattering money into empty space like this were missing out.

''Ah, next I need to take a bath in money. And in the future, I need to fill a pool with gold coins and feel them scraping across my entire body.

''But what can I do after that?

''I can’t imagine anything, but that simply proves I am still not a true merchant. Once I become one, my destination will be far beyond a mere pool. It will be something larger. Something like…yes.

“The world!”

“Hey, Shiro-kun?” said Heidi over divine transmission. “Your bodily data is showing a crazy amount of endorphins in your brain. Are you okay!?”

''Do not worry. Money will bring victory. Money ''is'' victory. And tonight I will spin you like a top. I too shall spin.

''Such a wonderful feeling. Money is carrying my power.

However, the baseball player before him was deflecting all of the several dozen coins he was throwing. The coins were scattered at the man’s feet like tiles.

Even when Shirojiro altered the angle or fired them upwards so they would drop down from above, the enemy deflected them all. This was an unbelievable opponent. Not only was he not distracted by greed for the money, he did not try to pick it up off the ground afterwards.

“Don’t waste money!!”

“You’re the one doing it!!” shouted back Takakane while deflecting the coins down so powerfully that they stabbed into the wooden deck.

Shirojiro then pulled another coin pot from the other side tail and set the two pots on his waist hard points.

“Double the money!”

He now scattered the ten yen coins in two fan shapes.

However…

“Don’t underestimate the baseball team!”

Takakane held his bat out a short bit and deflected them. He continued deflecting without end. Clear sounds filled the air as he moved the bat around in every direction as if making it dance.

“Thousand Squeeze Infinite Set!”

Takakane moved forward.

A hard shower of coins poured down like a gun on rapid fire, but…

…''I can see them!

The enemy was definitely an amateur. The positions of the pots were fixed and he only swung his hands by starting with his arms lowered and crossed and then swinging them upwards and outwards for a backhand. When the starting position was fixed and the pitching motion was the same, there was nothing to fear. Takakane only needed to determine in what order to intercept the coins.

And so he moved. Any that would not actually hit him he thought of as outside the strike zone. He crouched down to shrink that strike zone and he leaned forward as he started moving.

But…

“…?”

He heard the merchant named Shirojiro shake his head and speak.

“Take this kickback!!”

His voice brought sound to the deck all around Takakane.

It was the sound of money. As if jumping off the deck, the money Takakane had deflected around him all flew upwards. And all the coins rapidly flew straight toward him.

…''Is this…?

“Did you place your power inside the fallen coins again!?”

“I can still see them after they fell, so they belong to me. And if I distribute my power into them once more…”

Takakane heard the sound of money. He heard the sound of countless objects flying from the ground in every direction. He heard the sound of a spell.

They formed multiple fan-shaped formations and flew toward him.

Takakane felt the massive and heavy density of this attack. He could only say there was a great variety to these attacks, but there was one other thing he could say.

“Is this the power of money!?”

“Yes, this is the power of money!!”

This was the power of a merchant.

''Not bad,'' he thought.

The merchant was fixated on that money and that was proof he was going all out. And in that case…

…''It isn’t all that cool, but I’ve gotta do it!

He would use it. He slid his hand to the bat’s grip and exited his bunting stance.

“Slug bunt!!”

“Wow,” said one of the people watching at a distance.

A single man was swinging around his long bat in the center of the countless fired and thrown coins.

There were countless coins and they targeted him from every direction, but he remained unharmed.

“————!”

All of the deflected bullets lay prostrated at his feet.

However, the coin bullets knocked to the deck quickly regained power and shot up once more. To combat them, Takakane repeatedly switched between a long swing and a bunt and between holding the bat to the right and the left.

“Ohhhh!!”

With repeated left and right swings, he moved forward while almost spinning around.

Whether his enemy or his ally and whether active or simply watching, almost all of the nearby students gulped.

Countless clear sounds filled the area and all the sparks and smoke obscured his form while Takakane made use of his ability.

Behind and to either side of him, the Tres Españan students exchanging metal bullets with Musashi’s defensive units reacted.

“…!!”

They raised their voices of support to make sure he could hear them.

And a distinct response came from beyond all the sounds of deflected coins.

“Who do you think I am!?”

Their vice chancellor shouted back at them while literally defending the front line all on his own.

“I’m your captain, so it’s my job to support you all!!”

Takakane mentally nodded his head.

…''This is who I am!

How many different powers was he taking on at once right now?

It was more than just ten or twenty. Not even one or two hundred was enough. He was enduring more attacks than that while still moving forward.

Could anyone else do that?

Others could defeat powerful enemies and others could break through an enemy formation, but who could stand in front of those others and take on countless powers all at once?

…''Only me, the vice chancellor!

He was second up to bat. His position was shortstop. His role was to reliably see his teammates on their way and reliably hold the enemy back.

There were two tricks to that. The first was to polish his reaction speed and the other was…

…''Not to overlook any openings in my opponent.

If he focused on their entire body and watched their actions and formation, he would find the answer.

The density of deflected coins to the front right was thinner. He had intentionally deflected them as such.

So the next time the coins shot toward him from that direction, the barrage would be thinner.

And it was.

So he launched himself forward. He swung his bat to open the way ahead.

“One-man hit and ruuuuun!”

His destination was the merchant ahead of him. The instant he tried to hit him with his bat, the merchant pulled something from both the pots. They were coins just as before, but they were oddly long.

“Ten thousand yen rolls of coins!”

Takakane defended against the rolls of coins that were thrown with a rotation. There were two of them, but if he hit them just off of the center of gravity in the opposite direction of the rotation, they would fall.

Afterwards, he only had to jab in at the merchant while he tried to lower his raised hands.

But…

“!?”

When he tried to suppress the rolls of coins, their paper wrappings burst.

…''He’d already unwrapped them!?

The scene before him gave him his answer. The rolls of coins broke in two at the point he had hit them and the coins formed a scatter shot. And they did so further in than his bat.

He swept them, deflected them, and hit them away, but there were too many. Stepping back and hitting with a bunt would work, but…

…''I don’t have time to fall back!

The time limit for reaching the bridge was close, he had almost reached the merchant in front of him, and his teammates were behind him.

He needed to move forward in this situation.

''In that case,'' he thought while facing forward and looking up in the sky. He knew what airspace this was, so he opened his mouth. With a shout, he held his bat in his left hand and reached his right hand to his back.

“Old Man Velá, it’s time to use it! Testamenta Arma: Crus Temperantia!!”

While defending the small ships on the starboard bow, Velázquez answered Takakane’s request by activating his Testamenta Arma.

However…

“Hey, are you okay, Takakane? There’s a lot of noise coming from the ''cadena firma''.

“Don’t talk to me right now!!”

That was oppressive but the proper decision for the front line. Also, that idiot was likely drawing as many enemies as he could to let the others move on.

Takakane’s unit had passed the halfway point. The effects of Velázquez’s Testamenta Arma would eventually stop reaching them, but he could only hope they would take control of the bridge.

Also, the backup sent to Takakane’s assault unit came running back along Tama. Once he picked them up, Velázquez would have to begin preparing the small ships to leave. Would the assault unit reach the bridge or would they withdraw?

Now that they had crossed the Tres Españan provisional border, their limit was one minute. After that, the Tres Españan fleet avoiding the Musashi would fire on them.

Most likely, Takakane and the others still needed to travel about two hundred meters in that time. Travelling that distance and boarding the bridge in a single minute would be easy.

But only if the enemy would let them.

“Give it your best shot,” said Velázquez with a sigh.

He listened to the sounds of shellfire and the more distant sounds of gunfire and destruction.

“And I need to protect the backup unit.”

He made paintings to defend against the approaching defense unit’s attacks, but he could not simply paint walls. He also needed swamps, trenches, and holes. Recalling how he had painted all those things in the past and turning the entire area into a labyrinth was a lot of fun. He was forbidden from doing so in his work, but here he could do whatever his painting style allowed and that was also a lot of fun.

''Hee hee hee. That’s a sun wrapping around the battlefield. And I must be a genius to represent clouds like bread. How about I add some sound effects. Giving the pond in the sun a refreshing rumbling sound effect is pretty good taste, isn’t it?

…''How many years has it been since I’ve made such bold paintings?

As they were paintings, they were not as meaningful as the real thing. Anything that moved was especially difficult. But despite only painting a two-dimensional representation, he could place them in three-dimensional space by using perspective. The manufacturer of the brush had said something about warping space and whatnot, but he only had to paint. Paintings had developed from religious frescos and Catholicism had plenty of that. It was an excellent religion.

He was satisfied as he painted all those things, but he heard a sudden voice from the small ship behind him.

“Secretary! The transport lift to the right is moving! Something’s being carried up from below!”

“It isn’t a god of war, is it?”

Musashi’s defense units should have all been sent out already. If any hidden troops were coming, he did not understand why they would be attacking the small ships here and so he wondered what this could be.

“This is Musashi’s relief team!!”

It was a fat boy pulling a cart.

Velázquez did his best to grasp the situation as the cart with a relief bed was rushed over.

…''Oh, this is charity work.

Catholics would often do this. While on the battlefield, some would provide aid to both sides of the battle without taking part in the fight. It was a part of the Tsirhc religion that was spreading around the world.

…''So has Musashi started doing that despite being Shinto?

They were likely doing it for appearances which meant it would not be a trap. One wrong move and the records could spread around the world and lower people’s estimation of Musashi.

''I see,'' thought Velázquez again as he heard the boy speak while pulling the cart.

“Now, then! People of Tres España! Be moved by my charity and spread the name of Ohiroshiki among the little girls of Tres España! That is only natural, don’t you think!? It’s the default!”

Velázquez painted a hole and the shouting fell into it.

He sighed, but some others jumped over the hole. One was an Indian boy carrying several plates of curry and the other was a helmed macho man who lifted a food cart and attached it on the back of his waist rather than pulling it behind him.

The two of them arrived at Velázquez.

“Now, it is time for tonight’s super curry time.”

“I thought this was charity work!?”

The Indian ignored him and had the macho man lower the food cart and put on an apron.

The large man tucked the apron below the chain across his chest and the Indian faced Velázquez.

“Now, what would you like to eat?”

“How about fried rice?”

“Sure.”

The Indian nodded and walked over to the food cart. The half-naked apron man followed his instructions by placing rice on a plate and pouring curry on top and then the Indian held it out to Velázquez.

“Here is your curry.”

“I asked for fried rice! Give me fried rice!”

The Indian sighed, lowered his shoulders, and returned to the cart. He whispered something in the large man’s ear, shrugged, and shook his head, but overall looked irritated. The half-naked apron man followed his instructions by placing rice on a plate and pouring curry on top. Once more, the Indian held it out to Velázquez.

“Here is your fried rice.”

“That’s curry!!”

“Oh?”

The Indian nodded, walked back to the cart, and finally returned.

“Here is your fried rice.”

“That’s clearly curry and you didn’t even swap it out this time!!”

Velázquez swept a hand at the Indian for a tsukkomi, but he accidentally knocked the plate from his hands.

“Ah,” said the Indian while the plate fell to the deck in horribly slow motion.

With a wet sound, the curry and rice splattered and spread across the deck.

The Indian got down on hands and knees and hung his head toward the curry.

“How could this happen to the great curry?”

Velázquez instinctually added the vertical lines to represent shock, but he noticed the whispering of his fellow Tres Españas from the small ship behind him.

“Hey, isn’t the secretary in trouble here?”

“Yeah, he’s being pretty immature. I mean, isn’t curry fine?”

''Oh, no,'' thought Velázquez. ''If this is charity work, the records will show how I treated them.

In order to make up for that, he reached out with the brush still in hand.

“Um, well, if you insist.”

“Of course!”

The Indian instantly recovered. He stood up, held up the original plate he was hiding behind him, and tried to hold it out.

“Ah.”

Velázquez’s brush plunged deep into the curry.

The odd and unfamiliar sound of something smooth sliding out of place came from the tip of the brush.

This was nothing more than the large brush being thrust into the plate of curry, but Velázquez had a certain thought.

…''I’ve made countless paintings, but I’ve never seen a theme or still-life like this!

The title would certainly either be Curry and Brush or A Combination of Two Favorites, but no one would be able to imagine the actual scene from those titles.

But the two individuals eventually grasped the truth before them.

“Ahhhh!”

Velázquez managed to speak first.

“Y-you idiot! What are you going to do about this!?”

He pointed at the tip of the brush that was surrounded by carrots and the like.

“Hurry up and wash it! Do you have any turpentine? Then bring it over here! Lamp oil works too! If you’re doing charity work, surely you have something like that!”

“Understood.”

The Indian walked to the food cart, returned, and held something toward Velázquez.

“Here is your curry.”

“That’s not even close!”

“But turpentine is an oil and curry has oil in it, so they are the same. After all, this is beef curry.”

“Can you really serve beef when you’re Indian!? Aren’t you Dunhi!?”

“I am Shinto.”

“Then you shouldn’t be worshipping curry!!”

“Curry is the food of the gods, so it is the world standard.”

“Wait,” said Velázquez while he thought.

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, Europe had made many works of art based on Greek mythology and the Testament. However…

“Was the angel carrying a plate of curry during the Annunciation!? Did they serve curry at the Last Supper!?”

“They must have forgotten to paint it in.” The boy sounded absolutely certain. “How could they not serve curry at the Last Supper? Which is more satisfying, eating steak before dying or eating curry before dying?”

“Now you’re just trying to talk your way out of it!”

At that point, Velázquez noticed a change. He had swung his brush a few times during the conversation, but there was a common factor to what it painted.

“Curry.”

It seemed the material used to paint was automatically sent out because the lakes, river, and sky he had painted were now made of curry. Hassan turned to him to explain.

“This is a work of the gods.”

“Everything stinks of curry now, you idiot! And why is it even painting!? This is a spell!”

“Because curry is the food of the gods. I added in ether to reproduce that fact. In other words, it is magic curry.”

“Drugs!? You put drugs in it, didn’t you!? Or is it some kind of dangerous spell!?”

“It is all to satisfy the customers who spent their heard-earned money.”

“Don’t sell the food of the gods!!”

Meanwhile, the small ship behind him began to shake as the engine started up.

“Secretary! We’re just about at the limit!”

“Is everyone aboard!?”

“Testament!”

Velázquez nodded and sighed at that answer and he spoke to the Indian and the half-naked apron man.

“Pack it up in an insulated container. However this ends, we’re going home with some hungry people. A lot of them are athletes, so can you add in some salt?”

He then opened a ''cadena firma'' to speak to Takakane while watching Michiyuki Byakko create a wheat field and path in the sky overhead.

“Hey, Takakane. If you haven’t noticed, it’s about time for the last spurt.”

Takakane nodded.

He had already swung the Testamenta Arma he had drawn from his back to replace the long bat.

“Testament Arma: Crus Temperantia – Vetus.”

Velázquez had already activated Novum which had divided the enemy’s ability by the number of uses.

Takakane’s Vetus doubled the enemy’s time.

“…!!”

Tama, the Musashi’s second starboard ship, had become an unfavorable area for Musashi.

He then made his move to fulfill his role as vice chancellor. He charged toward the merchant who was slowed by 1/2.

“Hooooomerun!!”

And he hit the merchant’s body toward the opposite field.

The baseball player got a clean hit on the merchant.

The hit had everything needed for a homerun, but the merchant was slowed down by 1/2. Takakane watched the merchant’s face as the boy was slowly knocked away.

He was smiling.

Takakane wondered why, but he realized the answer due to the sensation arriving through the Testamenta Arma in his hand.

“You had money prepared!?”

Below the merchant’s torn clothing, he saw ring mail made of five yen coins covering his upper body. The defending coins had bent, but they had definitely dispersed and counteracted some of the damage to the merchant.

And the merchant spoke while being knocked away.

“You lose.”

''Like hell I do,'' thought Takakane. ''If I get in just one more hit, you lose.

However, as the merchant crashed into a nearby house’s door, he spoke.

“You…”

He bounced off yet continued.

“You have lost to Musashi!”

“Nonsense,” said Takakane as he ran over and swung up the bat to strike again. “Victory is…”

He did not say “mine”.

…''Ours!

As soon as he shouted that in his heart, the light from above vanished.

“…!?”

A white transport ship had appeared overhead with the emblems for Musashi Ariadust Academy and Marube-ya.

One of its bottom hatches opened. The hatch was meant to release the contents of large wooden containers, but this time, it did not release food, water, trade goods, or even the wooden or paper boxes meant to hold them.

“That’s…”

Money.

Coins that had filled a large wooden container fell in a quantity that not even “countless” quite covered.

“!?”

The transport ship tilted and a cascade of coins seemed to explode from the hatch. They fell with enough density to cover up the sky.

Takakane heard the heavy scraping of metal that sounded like a swarm of crying insects.

“Do not worry. This is a portion of the eight billion yen earned in the last few days in England. I had it exchanged for yen when seeing them off.”

“Damn you!”

Even as they spoke, the waterfall fell.

“…!!”

Nevertheless, Takakane made use of his defensive ability below the surging wave of coins.

As he moved, rotated, and deflected, none of the coins touched him. By deflecting a coin into other coins, he created defensive chain reactions with each individual deflection.

However, Takakane realized something about the cascade of coins as he did so.

“This isn’t an attack! It’s meant to hold me here!!”

He was deflecting the many coins using the Testament Arma that’s power reduced their speed and strength.

…''But that means it takes twice as long for the coins to fall!

He would be stuck here for twice as long as normal.

He saw the merchant slowly stand up. While Takakane was stuck where he was, the merchant moved slowly but surely past him and forward to the Musashi defense unit defending the bridge.

“Hey, Takakane!”

Takakane heard Velázquez speak but had no time to respond.

“Deactivate yours!”

He did not need to be told. After all, he was not stopping even a single enemy at the moment and they were already out of time. So he replied with his actions.

“…!!”

Knowing he would be hit, he placed the Testamenta Arma on his back.

In that instant, the cascade of money exploded inward as if striking him from the side.

Takakane ran from the waterfall of money as if crossing a mountain of coins.

He threw away his cracked helmet afterwards.

“Hurry onward!!”

He ran as if throwing his entire body forward.

He ran directly toward Tama’s bridge.

He was only a few hundred meters away and the enemy defense unit formed a wall along the way.

The merchant was running to move out from between the two sides.

“Charge forward!!”

The money-lover’s shout sent the enemy unit dashing forward with shoulders and shields thrust forward. And they were positioned to tear into the Tres Españan side from below.

Their Shinto shields used purification to reduce attack power, so any attack that hit them would lose their power and might be repelled. Once an attack clung to the shield, it would lose all strength and fall.

But that reduction of power only applied to attacks.

As Tres España’s vice chancellor, Takakane primarily fought through defense, but…

“Outta the way!!”

He hit back with a pendulum-like batting style that incorporated a running start and instantly knocked around a dozen defenders into the air.

He broke through, but his run had lost a bit of speed with that attack.

In that instant, a shower of metallic noises raced toward him as if to envelop his back.

…''Is this that the money waterfall!?

That was precisely what raced toward him as a thick barrage. He had previously knocked away the cascade of money, but power had been reinstalled in the coins and it had hopped up from the deck to attack him from behind.

He turned his back on it, swung his bat, and tried to regain his forward momentum.

“Tch.”

With a click of the tongue, he tried to raise his bat for defense with a single thought in his mind.

…''Is this the end!?

He had no time. If he turned around here, his speed would drop and he would use up some of the time needed to take the bridge.

…''But my role is…

He thought the word “defense” just as a fierce sound of impact exploded behind him.

But it was not the sound of the coins reaching him.

It was the sound of those very coins hitting the teammates following him.

“You guys!?”

Takakane continued facing forward, but he saw those knocked away by the initial impact fly past him in the air. They were more slammed into the deck then sent rolling across it, but…

“Captain! Continue on!”

He heard more cheers and sounds of impacts behind him and he heard his teammates jumping in between him and the reverse cascade of money.

By literally offering him their backs and shoulders, they allowed him to focus on moving forward.

And amid the dull sounds of defense and the clinking of coins, a few people lined up alongside Takakane. There were seven of them and that number meant one thing.

“Is this all the starting members other than Valdés!?”

“Testament!!”

The voices of those blocking the flowing tsunami of money reached him from behind. They shook as they were hit and cut out here and there, but what they said was clear.

“Heeeenaaaareeees!!”

“Testament!” replied the low, sharp voices of Takakane and the other seven who ran with him.

Forward.

Takakane continue forward with his teammates. He felt the presence of those left behind as he continued on.

They were now less than one hundred meters away, so they moved onwards while the enemy sent attacks of rejection.

At eight-five meters away, a Techonhexen unit attack from above on either side.

The right fielder and left fielder dove and stopped the attacks.

At sixty-three meters away, a volley of arrows arrived from straight ahead.

The center fielder opened a path.

At fifty-seven meters away, the merchant fired coin bullets at an opening.

The second baseman leaped in from the side to take care of them and the first baseman took care of what had been deflected.

At forty-one meters away, one of Musashi’s defense units arrived from a side passageway to the right.

The third baseman stopped them despite being thrown along the ground and having his hat knocked from his head.

At thirty meters away, Takakane realized he would only have the catcher left.

However, the catcher was gone.

Instead, he heard an intense sound of money behind him and the body that stopped it.

Takakane faced forward.

Tama’s bridge looked like a black wall in the moonlight and he was 27.431 meters to the entrance.

It was a straight line and only one back stood between him and the hatch that formed that entrance.

It was the merchant who ran toward that hatch.

His speed had dropped due to the coins he had fired earlier, so Takakane caught up with twenty-one meters to go.

The merchant leaped and turned toward him in midair.

Bullets flew toward him.

He deflected all of them with twenty meters left and at nineteen meters…

“…!”

He swung his bat as if knocking something into the air. It was a perfect hit. A sound came from the merchant’s ribs and he flew far into the air ahead. He flew approximately eighteen meters.

But Takakane was not going to let him off that easily. He ran toward where the merchant would land and prepared to swing again to hit the falling boy into the hatch.

But in that instant, he heard the merchant speak even as the boy flew through the air and felt great pain.

“I will pay you for your trouble, Hound of England and Silver Wolf of Musashi!”

Those two people then arrived from the moonlit sky.

Hundreds of blades fell in front of Takakane and rushed toward him like the wind.

“Walsingham!? So England has finally sent reinforcements!?”

“Bites!”

Takakane completely deflected the blades and destroyed the blast from the cross spear.

He continued his batting defense as he ran and he caught Walsingham herself.

“Outta the way!”

At sixteen meters from the bridge, he knocked the hound aside, but…

“Take this!”

The silver wolf’s voice came from overhead along with four large wooden containers and the chains that had thrown them. However, Takakane did not slow down. He straightened up to let his teammates see the school emblem on his back and then he leaned forward.

“Don’t underestimate the vice chancellor!”

Without slowing, he knocked the containers to the deck and air on either side.

The four chains were launching twisting strikes, but he matched the rotational direction of their tight arms.

“…!”

He knocked them all to the ground in an instant and stepped over their arms to open a path using the silver wolf’s attack.

In that instant, the wolf lowered herself down.

It was a sudden action, but he could still land a hit. He had trained enough for that.

But when he checked the remaining thirteen meters, he saw the merchant with his hips lowered and blood leaking from his mouth.

“This is my final coin!”

This was not a mere throw or scattering.

He used both hands to open a massive number of sign frames from in front to behind him. These were the contracts that sent one-tenth of the signer’s power.

“Take this!!”

As soon as he placed a coin in the farthest back sign frame, it accelerated.

This was an acceleration cannon using the thousand or so sign frames. Even if each one was only one-tenth of one person’s power, the same thing was repeated over a thousand times to instantly fire the coin. Just as the air burst and a steam explosion came from the muzzle, Takakane realized the coin had been fired toward his chest.

His teammates were behind him, so he could not dodge it.

“…!”

So he swung to intercept the high-speed coin bullet with the dead center of the bat.

A great roar burst out and the air let out a cry from the great impact.

“…Ah!”

The bat did indeed strike the coin bullet, but it changed shape like clay and then shattered.

The sound of destruction produced splinters and only the grip remained in Takakane’s hands.

He had lost his weapon, he was out of breath, and only empty space remained on the battlefield, but…

“Kh!”

He moved forward. He had no feet, but he accelerated in his attempt to move ever onward.

“————!!”

An alarm filled the air.

The small ships on the front of Tama and the distant Tres Españan fleet were giving off a long alarm.

That indicated their time was up and the merchant shouted out what that meant as he fell to his knees and spat out blood.

“Game over, baseball player!!”

Takakane had heard it. It was over. He understood that. But…

“…!”

He moved forward. He had lost his momentum and his main weapon had been destroyed, but he produced a roar from his throat and did indeed move forward.

“I can’t give up on this game!!”

He was twelve meters away.

He had already heard the signal and words that indicated the ending, but Takakane continued forward.

“…!!”

He drew the Testamenta Arma from his back despite not yet being able to activate it again and he tried to cover that last distance.

At the same time, an enemy defense unit jumped in between him and the bridge at just over the ten meter mark. The silver wolf with her chains and the hound with her countless blades also circled around ahead of him.

“Intercept him!!”

They all prepared their weapons at the wolf’s words, but Takakane continued regardless.

…''Of course I’m not stopping!

He recalled what he had thought while playing catch with Fusae earlier and what their chancellor had shown them during the early stages of the naval battle.

Fusae had said things were fine as they were.

Their chancellor had taken action to stop Tres España’s decline as much as possible.

''What am I?'' he asked himself. ''Nothing would remain here if I withdrew just because the time limit arrived.

If nothing of his actions during the armada battle remained, it was the same as not fighting against their decline in the slightest. Things would be unable to continue “as they were” and the chancellor’s thoughts would be for nothing.

Takakane wanted to leave something behind.

He wanted to accomplish something definite beyond forming bonds with his teammates and making fulfilling memories.

He had known the armada battle would happen, so…

“What do you think the vice chancellor is for!?”

With that shout, Takakane stretched his hand forward while running.

He reached out for the destination beyond the line of enemies.

When the enemy vanguard moved forward, he deflected and evaded them, but his hurry prevented him from fully avoiding the strikes.

A few hit him and a spray of ether rose from his spirit body.

He felt pain and heard the sound of his body being literally worn away.

But…

“…!!”

He swept the enemies to either side as if looking back and he indeed moved forward.

But as he swung the Testamenta Arma in place of a bat and ran through, his defenses opened for an instant.

The hound’s cross cannon took that moment to fire from beyond the barrier formed by the silver wolf’s chains.

He saw the wolf biting her bottom lip and waving her right hand toward his charge.

The blast arrived on a collision course, but Takakane still reached his hand forward.

“Dammit!!”

As the destructive light flew toward him, he opened his throat wide and cried out.

“This isn’t the end! This isn’t the end for Tres España!!”

The blast was going to strike as he shouted those words, but just before it did, a few movements obstructed his movements.

“Captain!!”

A dozen or so arms and bodies grabbed him from behind and threw him.

These were the main members of Tres España’s baseball team. They had caught up to him.

“!?”

And the instant after he escaped the blast, Takakane saw the night sky.

He had flown over Tama’s starboard edge and into that sky.

Takakane understood that his teammates had saved him.

He could see those teammates falling through the empty space around him and entering their proper falling positions.

The wind blew upwards where the Musashi quickly flew westward.

They all looked up at the Musashi, but a few of them were still holding Takakane’s back and shoulders. Their strength seemed to be restricting him from going back there.

As he looked up at the bottom of the Musashi, he could feel his fall accelerating.

And while falling in a straight line, he heard the voices of the comrades still holding him here.

“Captain!” they all shouted. “The game is over!”

He heard them all breathe and wait for him to respond.

During that pause, he gave himself over to the wind of his fall and looked up at the sky. The Musashi had already grown distant in the western sky and he passed back-first through the wind after being left behind.

“Dammit.”

He slowly relaxed his body and instead opened his mouth and hung his head.

“Dammiiiiiit!!”

The wind sped up as it carried his voice away. That wind now contained the sounds of cannons and impacts.

The Musashi had filled a large portion of the distance to Tres España.

While Takakane fell, there were two movements on Tama.

They were the pursuit and mopping up of the Tres Españan students still on the ship. The pursued vermilion uniforms threw themselves into the air and were picked up by the Velázquez or Valdés ships, but some took action too late.

However, someone saved them by drawing everyone’s attention into the sky.

“Taka!”

A voice and a giant white form descended from the sky.

It was Tres España’s 2nd Special Duty Officer Era Fusae and her god of war Michiyuki Byakko. The god of war created and ran across a wheat field and path which now formed a vertical downward slope.

The Byakko raced down faster than if it simply fell.

However, the Musashi had a method of intercepting the vertically descending Byakko.

“Contact!!”

The color vermilion flew into the air from the rear of Tama.

Jizuri Suzaku was launched directly toward Michiyuki Byakko.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 2B Chapter 64|Chapter 64]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 2B Chapter 66|Chapter 66]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 11

2016-03-19T23:38:41Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 11: Groups of National Leaders */

==Chapter 11: Groups of National Leaders==

[[Image:Horizon2A_341.png|thumb]]
''What should one do

''Before facing each other?

'''Point Allocation (Pace)

The afternoon sun entered a room on the western side of a residence with eaves. The large Japanese-style building sat next to a pond and two figures sat with their foreheads facing each other in a tatami mat room decorated with awards and trophies for the baseball team and track and field team of Tres España’s Alcalá de Henares.

The two spoke while sitting on the tatami mats with sheets wrapped around their naked bodies.

“Fusae, in the attack on Musashi, shouldn’t I have gone forward at this point?”

“You could have done that, Taka, but that would have left an opening in the back which normal students would have had to fill. Bringing everyone out like that is fine if we were going to settle things there, but I avoided sending you out because it didn’t look like we would.”

“Hm.”

Takakane nodded and stared at what lay between them.

It was a chess board. However, three battlefields created from the wood and squares were connected vertically and they were labeled “Musashi”, “Transport Ship”, and “Command Ship”.

“The biggest problem was Ju being stopped.”

Fusae picked up the queen sitting on the back of the command ship and used her fingernail to press the crest carved into the bottom that allowed her to change its settings. A ''cadena firma'' made from crosses and the San Mercado logo appeared above the piece.

“I certainly didn’t expect Musashi’s chancellor to appear there.”

She put down the piece and the squares on the board between the queen and the transport ship all emitted a blue light.

She did the same to the knights on either side of the queen and the light increased.

“I wanted to go all out from the beginning. Our goal was to make a powerful assault, but I sent Ju out to give ourselves a political victory as well. I thought we could use that to make a quick victory and get out of there. I never thought Ju would make such a girlish scream.” Fusae thought for a moment. “Hmm. I guess using people like objects isn’t the way to go. I need to think of them as people. Some say you can never know what will happen when people are involved, but that ignores the idea that people are unpredictable animals and still doesn’t look at them as people. …I did some of that myself this time, so I need to rethink how I do things. Maybe I was a little too full of myself after our victory in the previous war against Hexagone Française.”

Fusae leaned forward and placed her forehead on the chess board.

“Taka, aren’t you going to comfort me?”

“It was your mistake. Once you make up for it, I’ll comfort you plenty for any sadness left over.”

“Y-you make it sound somehow dirty.” Fusae raised her head, but her smile was a bit lacking in strength. “Anyway, do you think I’m better at commanding than I used to be?”

“That’s a difficult question.”

“Testament. So I’m hopeless, is that it?”

“Why do you always try to hurt yourself like that?”

“I can’t be hurt now that I have this body. And the last one to hurt me was you,” said Fusae with a smile.

“Y’know,” began Takakane as he folded his arms. “That was part of the history recreation.”

“Testament, testament. Women are fine with just the fact itself, but men always need an excuse.”

“Hmm.”

This time, Takakane placed a hand on his forehead and thought. He could not come up with anything to say and color returned to Fusae’s smile.

“Well, we achieved a lot of our political goals in the attack, so that’s good enough. They got away, but we didn’t lose. And we got two shell hits in later. At the very least, the other countries won’t be able to label Tres España as the loser. That will help out Tres España as a whole and it will give meaning to the exhaustion and injuries everyone received.”

“I don’t entirely get it, but is it really that important?”

“Testament.” Fusae nodded and picked up a piece from the chess board. “Let me explain. This will involve Tres España’s future as well.”

Takakane folded his arms as he stared at the pieces lined up on the chess board in the afternoon sun.

“What is Tres España’s plan for the future?” he asked.

“Testament. Ju would be able to give the best answer, but she can be a bit tight-lipped. Anyway, my view is that the Armada battle is going to happen before too long.”

“The one we lose? Of course, we intend to make it an effective win by staying on the retreat.”

“We are preparing for that, but things are heading toward the Peace of Westphalia due to Musashi’s actions in the name of saving the world from the Apocalypse. The countries which had previously been hesitant will begin to act because Musashi has.

“And the country with the most to gain from Westphalia is Hexagone Française, the winner of the Thirty Years’ War. Also, Holland, Switzerland, and Sweden have their independence recognized and England indirectly benefits from the conclusion. So many countries will be involved in the Peace, but Musashi’s password of ‘saving the world from the Apocalypse’ will drag even more countries in: Qing, Russia, and others.”

Takakane frowned at those two countries mentioned.

“But Qing and Russia have nothing to do with Westphalia. Are we supposed to accept importation of ramen and vodka because of the Apocalypse? Then again, we already have ramen. The tonkotsu kind.”

“You mean Founding Emperor Ramen? Our paella shops are having a hard time against that place. …Anyway, I’m sure those countries will show up to make it an ‘international conference’. Musashi’s participation itself is an interpretation. Officially, the conference will recreate history, but it may also have an unofficial side that leaves no records. That will cover saving the world from the Apocalypse and determining whether Musashi was in the right or not.”

In that case…

“We need to change our focus and think about how to take as little damage as possible in the armada battle. Also, we need to think about how to actually gain an advantage while maintaining an ‘interpretative loss’ of the battle. We only have about half a year to come up with something before the Peace of Westphalia on October 24, but I doubt England will give us any longer to think than they have to.”

“Then when will it happen?”

“That’s up to England which is the worst part. I’ll explain that, too.”

“Now, then,” said Fusae as she slid aside the chess board sitting between her and Takakane. She attached another board vertically and pointed to one corner. “This board is England, okay? And this one is Scotland.”

“And?”

“Chancellor Henry VIII made England Protestant under the Anglican Church, but Scotland disagreed and remained Catholic. …Now, Mary Stuart was the queen of Scotland, but she was forced to flee to England where she was imprisoned on the charge of attempting to assassinate Elizabeth.” Fusae removed her hand from the board. “One of the causes of the Armada battle is the execution of the Catholic Mary Stuart.”

“Our leader sure has an exciting reason to go to war.”

“Well, it’s part of the history recreation. Plus, this is just one link in the chain of conditions leading to the battle. Tres España has essentially been waiting for its chance to attack, but we made too many warships meant to be used in the Seto Inland Sea during the Battle of Lepanto. That’s made it difficult to secure the wartime harbors we need and to create the Grande y Felicísima Armada made up of ships meant for the open sea. However, England has been putting off the execution of Mary.” Fusae opened a ''cadena firma'' which displayed a list of England’s representatives. “And they created an organization known as Trumps which is made up of their representatives. I’ve heard the name comes from the fact that the king on playing cards is based on Elizabeth’s father, Chancellor Henry VIII, or the fact that the mark for the suit of clubs is based on Excalibur. That’s why Excalibur takes the place of 13. Also, the vice chancellor and vice president are both counted as 10, so there is no 11.”

'''12. Chancellor: Elizabeth – Also Student Council President. Fairy Queen and user of Ex. Caliburn.

'''10. Vice Chancellor: Robert Dudley – Skinny woman. Testamenta Arma user.

'''10. Vice President: William Cecil – Fat woman.

'''9. Secretary: Ben Jonson – Black athlete poet. President of the literature club.

'''8. Assistant Secretary: Nicholas Bacon – Hammer user and trickster. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.

'''7. Treasurer: Charles Howard – Naval admiral. Wealthy common sense man. No combat ability.

'''6. Thomas Shakespeare – Logismoi Oplo user. Half-lived race. Vice president of the literature club.

'''5-1. Francis Drake – Hard Wolf and naval vice admiral. Essentially the commander. Testamenta Arma user.

'''5-2. John Hawkins – Drake’s companion. Swimsuit man.

'''5-3. Thomas Cavendish – Drake and the others’ underclassman. Mermaid woman.

'''4. Grace O’Malley – Female Pirate of Scotland. Elizabeth’s friend.

'''3. Christopher Hatton – Lord Chancellor and Living Bones.

'''2. F. Walsingham – Automaton leader of the public morals committee. Spymaster.

'''1. Walter Raleigh – Far Easterner. Elizabeth’s wartime advisor.

“That sums it up. …Why are you so quiet, Taka? Can you barely contain your desire to fight?”

“No.” Takakane tilted his head and poked at the list. “Unlike us, they’re mostly literary types. One disappearing ball pitched underhand by a Valdés and they’d be dead, don’t you think?” He paused for a moment. “Also, there are a ton of truly strange people in this list.”

“I was trying to decide if I should say that or not.”

“And it’s more of a monster land than I imagined. It’s like an animal kingdom.”

“I was thinking about saying that too.”

“I’m glad we’re relatively normal.”

“I’m not sure outsiders would see it that way.”

“Hmm,” they both groaned while looking down.

They remained motionless for a while, but Fusae finally clenched her fists near the floor.

“I-I need motivation.”

“He! Na! Res!”

“Ohh!”

The two of them synchronized and regained strength of will, but then Takakane relaxed his sitting position again.

“But there’s nothing we can do if England decides when it begins.”

“Isn’t that why we attacked Musashi?”

“What do you mean? I thought that was meant to show our position to the Testament Union and to gain the right to speak to Musashi in the later conference.”

“There was more to it than that. And the success of that attack should let us guide the armada battle to its beginning. They won’t have solved the mystery of our strongest ship, San Martín, so we should have the advantage in the battle.”

“Y’know,” said Takakane. Fusae tilted her head and Takakane scratched below his short hair. “You really look like you’re enjoying yourself when you talk about strategies and tactics.”

“Testament. I decided to never fail again. I deeply immerse myself in it and enjoy it so I won’t fear failure. That’s very Tres Españan, don’t you think? It’s often said we use the money we have, give in to our passions, have a party, and forget everything unpleasant.”

Fusae placed her hands on the floor as if stretching forward.

The chess board between them was the one used to explain England’s situation.

“Did you realize why I slid it to the side?” she asked while looking up at Takakane.

“Because we can’t win,” he said expressionlessly.

He went on to raise his arms and tumble backwards in a pose of resignation. Fusae laughed, slid up to him, and lowered her head over his, but she heard a sudden voice from the garden.

“Ah! Wah! Brother! Fusae and the team captain are having an impure couple’s relation!”

“Foolish sister. Your brother has some advice for you: when they are married, it is not impure. It is simply obscene.”

“Shut up, Valdés siblings. Why are you here?”

Takakane looked up and saw the siblings wearing track suits.

The younger sister, Flores, raised both hands with a carefree smile.

“Why are we here? Well, um… to mooch lunch off of you!”

The Valdés sister proudly puffed out her chest.

“Fusae said she found a good restaurant, remember!? Y’know, the food union’s Paella Emperor! It’s supposed to rival Founding Emperor Ramen!”

“Fusae, a chain restaurant doesn’t count as good.”

“But you can stick around forever with the orange juice. It’s a product of Valencia.”

“That’s right! Girls need a place to chat! …Oh, but we didn’t know you were searching for a new way to take your afternoon nap with the captain. Speaking of which, what would you call this method? A fork!?”

“Sister. Why would you want it to drop? Personally, I would go with a slider, but you need to calm down. …Anyway, what do you say, captain?”

“No thanks, you idiot. It’s kind of creepy when you show up so suddenly.”

The brother turned to his sister, but the sister was already staring strongly up at him.

“Did you hear that? He called you an iiidiot! An iiiidiot!”

“Sister, the captain is a tsundere. You need to understand that. As such, I am now certain I have his trust.”

“You don’t have to keep up the idiot act, Valdés… Now, you two,” said Takakane. “Have you ever hit a literary type with a pitch?”

The siblings both froze in place for an instant. Finally, the brother turned to his sister. But she averted her gaze and shook her head back and forth.

“N-no, I’ve never done anything like-… Brother, don’t put your hand on my shoulder! I haven’t! Really, I haven’t! The ball slipped from my grasp is all! That idiot may have been photographing the girls’ practice, but it was an accident that I hit him square on! …But to be honest, it did feel really good.”

“You don’t have to confess anything, Valdés sister,” said Takakane with a sigh.

“Anyway, captain,” said the brother. “The real reason we are here is because the chancellor has apparently disappeared. He hasn’t come here, has he? Lady Juana is searching for him, but can’t seem to find him.”

Takakane tilted his head and turned to Fusae. She was clinging to him while buried in the sheets so the Valdés siblings could not see her face, but her long ears were bright red. When he saw her head shake left and right a bit, he lightly embraced her back.

“She says she hasn’t seen him. Oh, but Valdés.”

Both the brother and sister looked up in confusion. Takakane jerked his chin toward the entrance.

“I’ll search for him today, but ask Velá next time. You can contact him by his handheld.”

“Velázquez?”

“Testament,” said Takakane with a nod. “He and the chancellor have known each other a long time. If you ask him, he would find him by nightfall.”

“Well, if that’s done, I want to eat some lunch,” said the sister.

“You heard her, Fusae. Get up already.”

“Make me,” said Fusae while lying completely limp.

Takakane sighed and pointed toward the Valdés siblings.

“Fine, then. I’ll contact Velá. …One of those letters has come for the chancellor again, hasn’t it? Tell Juana he’ll be back by nightfall. Also, you two wait outside. We’ll be right out once I have Fusae ready.”

Takakane looked away from the Valdés siblings, looked toward Fusae, and then looked up in the sky. The blue sky of early afternoon seemed to stretch up forever.

“There are problems no matter where you look. If Musashi wants to deal with those who live on the ground, they have to do things our way. They’re probably discussing England and us right about now, but that’s only going to get worse. This is getting dangerous.”

He sighed and lowered his shoulders.

“And England is probably having a meeting after gathering the Trumps.”

Four massive crust blocks floated in the air. The adjoining blocks were arranged with two aligned north and south and two to the northwest.

The floating island was located approximately three thousand meters in the air.

It was known as England.

Each of England’s four blocks had a narrow multi-layer structure on the upper level. The first level had the academy, the second had the cities, the third level was the broadest and it contained the farmland, and the fourth level was very thick and supported the others. The fourth level also contained the coast and a shallow ocean.

The blue sky lay above and the blue ocean lay below. The third level was mostly covered by the green of forests and mountains, and the wheat of the farmland spreading out below was also green. This was the season of colors for England.

The academy at the center of each first level functioned under the college system. The development around those formal and historic school buildings was built on the second level.

The central school buildings were protected by fortresses, but they had no classrooms. They were only built with a student council room, various living rooms, a faculty room, a library, a reference room, and other such rooms.

Among the four blocks, the largest central school building was the one on the first level of the southern block of England. It was Oxford Academy of Anglia.

The central school building was designed like a palace with a great hall and an audience room. It had a maintained nature park and a waterway, and it was currently filled with the light of midmorning.

As a school building and specialty facility, it was quiet and few people walked by.

Currently, two students with guard duty walked atop the thick fortress wall surrounding the school building on their way to the fortress gate tower. They were chatting as they walked along and looked toward the silhouette of Musashi visible in the southern sky.

The one to the front was a bigfoot beastman and the one in back was a lizard beastman.

“Spring is just about at its peak, isn’t it? How about you? Are you in your periodic puberty?”

The bigfoot continued speaking while pinching at the hair on his chin.

“It’s going to get hot soon, but I hate growing in my summer coat. But if I got my hair removed permanently, I’d be indistinguishable from an ogre. You have it easy there. You lizards are always so cheerful in the summer.”

“Don’t be stupid. Summer may be nice, but you can’t underestimate the heating costs for a lizardman to make it through winter. Last year, my old man forgot his portable heater on his way to buy some smoking tobacco and ended up hibernating next to the store.”

“Testament,” said the bigfoot with a nod. He did not stop walking. “I remember that now. We’re actually pretty delicate. In games, we always charge right at the adventurer, but that isn’t gonna happen. Why attack a penniless adventurer when you can work at a mountain hut? I’d rather use my strength to do some easy heavy labor and have the girls thank me than make painful memories hunting humans.”

“Testament,” said the lizardman with a nod. He pointed north with his rifle. “You should think about switching to the college in northern Scotland. The history recreation allows more interaction these days, so you shouldn’t have any trouble there.”

“I could, but you’d have to return the games, Black Disks, and Gold Disks you borrowed. Especially ‘Merlin’s Destruction of the Round Table for Dummies!’ That one’s rare, so I can’t have you never returning it. Also…”

The bigfoot looked through the sky from south to west while walking. To the south, Musashi was visible in the distance and the shadow of the Divine States was visible even further in the distance. And to the west…

“There’s the war with Tres España. I can’t go until that’s over.”

“Is that really anything to worry about? You saw Ex. Caliburn, didn’t you? As long as we have that, England can’t lose. …Of course, it can’t fire repeatedly and it can’t be fired outside of England.”

“That’s why the other countries haven’t claimed it’s a weapon of mass destruction meant for invasion.”

The two lowered their gazes toward the front of the academy visible from the edge of the fortress wall they were walking along. Outside the fortress gate was the path to the city of London on the second level and an old fortress with tall towers in four directions.

That fortress was the royal residence known as the Tower of London.

The highest level of each tower had a hatch which could be opened or closed, so the inside was not visible at the moment. However…

“England’s royal and noble criminals are imprisoned in the Tower of London. Excalibur was relocated to the northwest tower and supposedly no one has ever pulled it from the piece of crust which acts as its pedestal. Rumors say its sword attack that protects England uses the power of the criminals’ confessions. The current prisoner is-…”

“If you say it, you’ll end up bloody. The English royal family has been dangerous for a long time. You know the history, right?”

“Yeah. England’s grudge began two generations ago in the age of Chancellor Henry VIII.” The lizardman stopped walking and slid his hand horizontally across his neck. “Well, according to my old man, Chancellor Henry VIII never even touched Ex. Caliburn. He always boasted about his ability to pull it out, he was known as the almighty king, and he apparently had connections with all sorts of countries, but he must have been aware he wasn’t qualified to be king.”

“Why not?”

“The legend of Excalibur says the one who can draw it is qualified to be king. If he ever tried and failed to draw it, he would lose the right to be king. He might have been afraid of that.”

As he spoke, the lizardman looked toward the southeastern tower of the Tower of London. Lace curtains hung in one of its windows and his gaze moved toward that white color.

“Can’t see her today.”

“The prisoner? Don’t tell me that’s why you took this part time guard job.”

“Testament. I’m from Scotland, after all. It gets so cold there that the heat expenses are no laughing matter.”

The lizardman suddenly looked toward the bottom of the fortress. He had noticed movement in the city. However…

“…?”

He stopped in place while looking down. The bigfoot frowned when he noticed.

“What is it?”

“Look,” muttered the lizardman.

A man walked along the path to the fortress gate.

He had dark sin, wore glasses, and was bald. A white tank top covered his tense body and rectangular cases over a meter long hung at either waist.

Each of his footsteps was accompanied by a metallic noise and he walked across the stone pavement with light steps.

“That’s the athlete poet and secretary, Ben ‘9’ Jonson,” said the lizardman.

“Does he have some business at our school building?” muttered the bigfoot. “The student council and chancellor’s officers have nothing scheduled for-…” He trailed off and corrected himself. “No, wait. The entire school building was made off limits today. We weren’t told, but there have been rumors for a bit now, remember? In other words, today is…”

He trailed off again.

Several other figures had come up behind Ben Jonson.

People walked up the stone-paved path. They were not gathered together. They were scattered in pairs or alone, but they were all headed to the same place.

The first one after Jonson was a Hard Wolf with a naval-style uniform.

“That’s the vice president of the ship club, ‘5-1’ Drake. He’s attacked Tres España’s New World fleets and given England enough money to rival a year’s budget. Despite being a pirate, he has the title of knight.”

Next to him was a young man carrying a three-pronged lance and wearing a racing swimsuit, cap, and goggles.

“He’s the captain of the ship club, ‘5-2’ Hawkins. As Drake’s colleague, he’s an excellent partner during wartime and an assistant who can carry out independent missions. He looks like a pervert, though.”

Someone was speaking to Drake and Hawkins via sign frame. Hawkins’s sign frame showed two women aboard a ship somewhere. One was a mermaid with her tail fin submerged in a cradle-like device that doubled as an aquatic bed and the device for controlling ships.

“The mermaid is the ship club’s manager, ‘5-3’ Cavendish. She uses all of her spells solely for controlling all of the club’s ships. I had thought she and the previous two had left for the New World after the attack on Lisbon, but it looks like they’ve returned here.”

A woman spoke with Cavendish while grabbing a donut from a pocket on the ship control device. She wore a hood and scarf with a woven ivy pattern. She was a dryad with ivy and leaves spilling from within her black hair.

“She’s the representative of Ireland, Grace ‘4’ O’Malley. Our queen calls her a friend and she protects the northern and western seas. She strongly scolds her husband, has a ton of kids, and lives a wildly free lifestyle, but she can be trouble when it comes down to it. She’ll charge into the enemy fleet with her quick, small ship and get real results.”

Behind Drake and Hawkins was a boy dancing lightly despite carrying a hammer in a giant case.

“That’s the head of the state club, Nicholas ‘8’ Bacon. He’s a trickster, the queen’s advisor, and he holds the Great Seal of England which gives him the right of decision.”

Behind Bacon was a man wearing glasses. He wiped sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and worried with his neatly parted hair.

“That’s the president of the ship club and the treasurer, Charles ‘7’ Howard. He can’t fight, but he carries out his duties as treasurer with his massive wealth and his great skill at using it. He owns the British fleet, but he leaves all authority concerning its use to Drake. He’s incredibly generous, so he even compensates any injured soldiers. He’s a powerful merchant.”

One figure walked a fair distance back from the others. He was a Living Bones who wore a cloak over his upper body. A necklace decorated with small compressed skulls hung around his neck.

“That’s the Lord Chancellor, Christopher ‘3’ Hatton. Not only does he judge people like crazy in trials, but he also rescues the souls of the people he judges. From what I hear, he’s searching for a way to finally rest in peace.”

And lastly, two figures walked behind all the others.

[[Image:Horizon2A_362-363.jpg|thumb]]

One was a Far Easterner. He had long bangs, broad shoulders, and a slender body. His casually worn uniform was equipped with several swords that were simply a hilt and guard. They had a cap attached rather than a blade. He carried another such sword over his right shoulder, but this one measured over a meter and a half long.

“Walter ‘1’ Raleigh. He’s a remnant of the Far Eastern Amako clan, but he instructs the queen’s army and acts as the queen’s wartime advisor. It seems his other Urban Name is Trident, but it was apparently given to him by a third party. He never speaks.”

The final figure walking alongside Raleigh was a female automaton.

She was a puppet. She wore a female uniform with the skirt and coat removed, but her arms and legs were not attached to her body. They instead moved along with the movements of two cross-shaped blades floating above her back.

“That’s the head of the public morals committee, F. ‘2’ Walsingham. She exterminates other countries’ spies within England while gathering information from those other countries using her own intelligence network.”

That was ten in all. The two beastmen knew what the total should have been, but they did not even exchange a glance.

“Vice President William ‘10’ Cecil and Vice Chancellor Robert ‘10’ Dudley, aka ‘The Two Tens’, are waiting inside the school building. ‘12’ is the queen and ‘13’ is represented by Ex. Caliburn, so the only member of Trumps missing is ‘6’ Shakespeare.”

“Why are they all here?”

“I don’t know, but I know who had to have called them in. It was-…”

Just before the lizardman could speak the name, a voice whispered in their ears from behind.

“That’s right. Our Fairy Queen, Her Highness ‘12’ Elizabeth.”

The two of them jumped in surprise and turned around.

A dark-skinned face wearing glasses was grinning quite nearby. The two of them stared at the morning sun reflecting off the glasses.

“Ben Jonson…”

“Just call me Ben, bros. I’m having a good time every night at the Mermaid on Cheapside, so stop by if you have time. Today, ‘6’ Shakespeare and the queen will be coming. You’re interested in royalty, aren’t you? Especially you, Torn.”

Ben turned toward the lizardman. He ignored the lizardman gasping at having his name spoken and turned toward the closed lace curtains on the southwestern tower of the distant Tower of London.

“She lost her last chance to avoid execution when she could not pull out Ex. Caliburn. Ah, I feel like my feet are about to recite poetry, bros.” Ben spread his arms, moved away from them, shook the cases hanging from his waist, and looked up into the sky. “At any rate, keep up the good work, bros. In the two weeks since Musashi’s arrival, we have finally all gathered for an emergency meeting. We will be discussing what to do about Musashi and I am sure Musashi has their own ideas on the matter.”

He gave an exaggerated bow and tapped his right foot. As soon as the metallic noise rang from the sole of his shoe, he vanished. All that remained was one last sentence in his voice.

“Tres España and Musashi are both making plenty of plans.”

A certain white-walled hallway smelled of disinfectant and never turned out its lights.

It was the hallway of a hospital. Walking on its marble floor were two women wearing red uniforms.

One was tall, had long ears, and wore glasses. The other was short and had two false arms.

Both of them carried wicker baskets as they walked through the hallway which was filled with the afternoon sun.

The tall one lowered the ends of her eyebrows and smiled toward the short one.

“Sorry about the trouble, Tachibana Gin. You did not have to help.”

“Please, call me Gin, Lady Juana. I am helping because visiting Muneshige has shown me the meaning in this sort of thing. …Also, I found this a bit surprising.”

“Surprising?”

“Testament,” replied Gin.

She was a special duty officer, but she had no real connection to the student council. Also, the student council had the political power and right to recommend people or approve people for inherited names, so they had some power over her. It had been Juana who had told her Muneshige was to lose his inherited name. However…

“I was surprised to hear the great Juana, one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings, was handing out flowers and snacks to the sick and to the children.”

“The great Juana…? I…” Juana smiled amid the shadows of the white hallway. “Well, I can imagine how you think about me and view me. They write the same things in the newspapers and on the divine network.”

“Testament. Do not worry. The divine network contains fan clubs filled with people who love how harsh you are. A recent survey asked people what profession they wanted to see you in. I believe the top three results were female teacher, female office chief, and female inquisitor. Female class representative was an honorable mention, but was disqualified for the age mismatch.”

“I don’t really understand this. Is female teacher really a unique profession?”

Gin tilted her head as she walked.

“I once asked Muneshige-… Oh, I should explain. As 1st special duty officer, his job includes handling information, so he had investigated this kind of thing. Anyway, I asked him if it was really that hard to distinguish between a profession and a genre. Oh, and according to him, I am a ‘female fiancée’. It seems redundant to me.”

“I still don’t really understand. At any rate, I will keep in mind that I am apparently suited toward being a female teacher. …Oh, turn right here. We will head outside toward the children’s building.”

Juana used her knee to push open the door leading to the outdoor passageway.

''I thought she would have more of an air of importance,'' thought Gin when she saw that.

The wicker basket Gin held radiated faint heat and the smell of butter. The heavy scent that filled her nose was not often smelled in the Tachibana household that primarily ate Japanese food.

“Is this homemade?”

“Testament,” replied Juana as she walked out underneath the afternoon sun. “The dough has to ferment, so I set it sit out last night before going to sleep.”

“I see. I make my preparations directly after dinner.”

“Oh? Why that early?”

Gin thought it would be best not to answer that, so she changed the subject.

“Do you do this to relieve stress? I think you should sleep at night.”

“No, I enjoy having something to focus on. And I can use a spell for compressed sleep.”

“Testament,” replied Gin as she followed Juana out into the sun.

They were headed for the hospital atop the hill across the plaza. To their left, they could see several domed school buildings surrounded by the walls of Alcalá de Henares. The city at the foot of the mountain spread out beyond that. Juana seemed to be concerned about the eastern end of the city, but that only contained the slums and the hospital for those with low incomes.

“Lady Juana, are we taking these snacks to the other hospital too?”

“Testament. When I made the suggestion, that man insisted I give them out ‘evenly to everyone’. I thought that would be impossible, but bakeries around the city are cooperating. This is the only hospital that gets the ones I baked personally.”

By “that man”, she likely meant Chancellor and Student Council President Segundo. She would often mention him in conversation, but Gin did not recall ever hearing her say his name. Gin mentally tilted her head as she walked along the stone-paved plaza.

“Does the chancellor always say things that get in your way like that?”

“Hm.”

Juana lowered her eyebrows in thought and Gin arrived one step behind her.

“As far as I can see, he leaves everything to you. To be honest…” She felt bad saying this about him, but she wanted to check. “It appears to me he was forced into taking the role of chancellor and president to recreate Tres España’s decline.”

“Gin,” said Juana. Her back was to Gin as she continued to walk. “Watch what you say. He is quite capable. We need to trust him.”

“How can you trust him?” asked Gin. “He leaves almost every job with you and today he has vanished somewhere. Just before noon, you were unsure what to do about a letter addressed to him, correct? You ultimately had the Valdés siblings search for him, but-…”

“Gin,” said Juana once more. “Why do you trust Tachibana Muneshige?”

“Because he gave me a new reason to live,” she immediately replied proudly.

“Then you need not ask for my reason,” said Juana. “It would not help you.”

“Testament,” said Gin with a small nod. “I apologize for asking a question like a sort of test.”

“Don’t apologize. If you asked him that kind of question now, he would likely do nothing but smile weakly.”

“Why does he have no motivation whatsoever?”

“No motivation whatsoever…” muttered Juana with her head lowered a bit.

Gin thought she had said too much, but then Juana spoke without turning around.

“Because he lost his reason to live.”

Gin stopped walking when she heard that. She could tell her eyebrows were bending.

A reason to live. Her reason to live was Muneshige.

What if Chancellor Segundo had something like that, but…

“He lost it?”

When she imagined the same happening to herself, she felt a chill.

“Everyone is looking our way from the children’s hospital.”

Hearing that, Gin looked toward the two white buildings before them. From where they were, they could see the north side of the children’s hospital which was the back side. The patient rooms had no windows on this side and they were only visible from the hallways and the cafeteria, but the children had already noticed Juana.

“…!”

Children shouted within the windows and a group ran out of the building. Gin saw the parents notice them and bow.

The children’s hospital was made up of two buildings, but…

“The right building is for the long-lived race and the left one is for humans. Be careful, Gin. Some of the children have yet to realize the meaning in that distinction and there is no reason to let them know before they have to.”

Gin tilted her head. There was a place for humans and long-lived, but…

“What about the children of the half-lived race which is a mix of human and long-lived?”

“Given Tres España’s insistence on purity, do you really think they have a place in our central hospital? They are so hated because they are indistinguishable from the long-lived,” said Juana with her back turned.

''Lady Juana was selected for the student council as a long-lived elite,'' recalled Gin.

The posture of Juana’s back told Gin she had her own thoughts on those born between a human and a long-lived. Gin also knew Juana could not speak those thoughts lightly due to her position as vice president.

…''But the chancellor and president says those things quite plainly.

When Juana had suggested giving out snacks, he had insisted on doing so equally. He likely meant equal between humans, long-lived, and even half-lived.

And Juana highly valued him and was doing exactly as he said.

“Testament. I asked something I should have known. My apologies.”

Gin adjusted her grip on her basket and lined up beside Juana. When she looked up from Juana’s left, she saw that Juana was smiling. That smile somehow reminded her of that man.

But Juana’s gaze slowly moved from the hospital to the western sky.

A giant flat cloud could be seen above the ocean that travelled from the Iberian Peninsula to the New World.

“Our Grande y Felicísima Armada is being constructed in there, isn’t it? The old fleet made up of fishing boats and ships from the Battle of Lepanto modified for use in the open sea will eventually be dissolved and either used as transport ships to the New World or sold to civilians. Fusae’s San Lorenzo has been repaired, so all that remains are the readjustments to the flagship San Martín,” said Juana as she stared at the distant cloud. “San Martín was able to approach without England noticing and then attack Musashi. I wonder how England and Musashi will see through to its identity. …No, they are both still sounding each other out. They have to decide what to do with that crashed transport ship between them.”

As Juana looked into the western sky, she narrowed her eyes and sighed at the slight hint of evening colors in the sun.

“Will night eventually arrive?”

“According to the Testament, Tres España is known as the empire on which the sun never sets.”

“Testament,” answered Juana with a nod, but Gin saw her close her eyes. Juana formed a self-deprecating smile and said, “As the land of non-humans, you could call England the empire of the night. And the Far East is the land of the rising sun. When the people of dawn arrive at the empire of the night, will their rise be able to cause the sun to set?”

“Well…”

“Testament. I know it is a needless worry. The way I see it, it is reckless to try to stop the sun from setting. And the sun looks all the brighter when it rescues you from the night.”

So…

“I think there are those among the people of the sunken dawn who are struggling to rise up from the night. And that struggling dawn confronts the light of our empire by always trying to hold a new light.”

Just as Juana said that, two figures ran up the slope of the hill to their right. Gin and Juana turned around to find a pair from the baseball team.

“Ah. Look, brother! I told you she’d be here! Lady Juana! Lady Juana!”

That energetic voice belonged to…

“…The Valdés siblings?”

“What is it? This is a hospital, you know?”

Gin nodded in agreement with Juana’s question. She wondered what this was about and saw the Valdés sister arrive ahead of her brother. She bowed, stopped running, and looked up into the sky.

“Apparently, the secretary will find the chancellor and bring him back by nightfall! All right! Odd job complete!”

“Sister, I think such a short notification could be handled by divine message.”

“Testament. Thank you very much. Now, 4th special duty officer, what do you have to report that you could not do by divine message?”

“Testament,” replied the Valdés brother when he arrived. He bowed and suddenly said, “England’s Trumps have made a compromise with the Far East’s Musashi.”

“…Eh?”

Gin understood why Juana was confused.

A compromise meant England was showing understanding towards Musashi.

…''This could be bad if Musashi and England form an alliance.

The European forces would be unable to form a single side of the Musashi vs. Testament Union conflict.

“Could you be more specific?”

“Testament. This is why I opted to deliver the message in person.” The Valdés brother closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit. “The compromise is to allow supplies to be delivered to the crashed transport ship via a diplomatic ship. Also, the crew of the crashed ship are allowed on the fourth level of England. The crew is not yet allowed to return to Musashi, but it seems England wishes to have a trade meeting and a diplomatic meeting with Musashi.”

Gin saw Juana’s face grow truly expressionless upon hearing that.

…''If England holds a diplomatic meeting with Musashi…

“England’s relationship with Musashi will be made clear very soon.”

“Testament,” said Juana before continuing for Gin. “And the armada battle will be soon as well. England must want to make a decision concerning Musashi before their battle with us. But what does Musashi intend to do? Can you gather information on their situation through our intelligence networks?”

The siblings exchanged a hesitant glance.

“Well… Brother? How about you say it?”

“Sister, this is the first time I have been jealous of your standing as younger sibling. How would you like tripping down a flight of stairs together and having our minds switch bodies?”

''Is that based on “Torikaebaya Monogatari: The Emperor is Dokyo and Dokyo is the Emperor”, that Kamakura period sequel to a famous piece of transsexual literature?'' thought Gin.

“Anyway,” said the Valdés brother while scratching at his head. “It seems Musashi and the group on the transport ship are having some kind of festival.”

“A festival?”

“Testament. From what I heard, it isn’t even night yet and Musashi is already firing fireworks horizontally between the ships to ‘see which one is the strongest’ and a member of a visual band dived into the audience but ended up in the hospital because no one caught him.”

“What is that country thinking? …And what about the transport ship?”

“Testament. It seems a female student with some kind of spear is an expert at high-speed fishing. With her as their leader, they are holding a festival in which they use up all of their food reserves. It seems they are worshipping both the spear and the girl with cries of ‘Leader! Leader!’. They also started a fire, but it began to spread and caused panic.”

Gin nodded because she could easily imagine the scene. The other three looked at her speechlessly.

“As the ones who attacked them, we are definitely on the side of order and justice.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 12|Chapter 12]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 26

2016-03-19T23:37:12Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 26: Flower Presenter on the Street */

==Chapter 26: Flower Presenter on the Street==

[[Image:Horizon2A_781.png|thumb]]
''In what season

''Does the strictness of blooming

''Become more lax?

'''Point Allocation (Cheering)

The sounds of the festival danced about the stone and brick city. They gathered together and spread out in the midday sky.

The city was not all that tall. Instead of apartments, the streets were lined with stone and brick houses.

But the dirt roads and roofed sidewalk arcades were all filled with people.

The road could not be seen through the people who were all heading to different destinations or the temptations before their eyes.

The people made countless different noises. Orchestras and bands played and sung the main melody, the countless speaking voices of the walking people formed the low bass, and their footsteps on the stone and dirt created the drum-like tempo. The many sounds and never-ending flow of people drifted toward the fatty, flavorful, and sweet scents of foods at the festival stands. They were further disturbed by the jester and magician shows, but no matter how much the movements slowed, they never came to a complete stop.

And on top of all that movement, spirits moved along the road and through the air.

The wind spirits carried voice messages, the kobolds carried materials to support the festival, and they all remained in constant motion.

All the never-ending action produced heat, but one factor gave them all a breather.

The girls.

There were the Far Eastern residents. A few girls – mostly Far Easterners – were dressed up as they walked down the center of the road. A tall girl with light brown hair and lots of exposed skin took the lead. She was followed by a tall black-haired girl, a silver-haired half-werewolf, and girls with black and gold wings.

The waves of people naturally parted ahead of them, but not to avoid them. Both the men and women wanted to move back so they could more easily see the entire group.

The parting waves of people began hesitantly, grew surprised, and finally filled with breaths of curiosity. The occasional person made a comment while drawing back.

“Are those the girls of Musashi?”

A lot of Far Eastern girls had entered England for the festival. However…

“Those are chancellor’s officers and students with connections to the student council. They’re the main players during combat.”

Of all the gazes turned toward the girls, not all of them were filled with curiosity. Some of the people had body types that pointed toward certain combat styles or wore stockers for spell charms. Those people parted the waves of people and poked their heads out to observe the girls who might become their opponents.

Their gazes held suspicion or doubt and they commented on the girls’ gait, posture, and shoulder movements.

“We can’t let our guard down.”

“Testament. They’re more impressive in real life than in the footage from the Battle of Mikawa.”

“Their breasts are?”

“Their heights are.”

“Testament. I just had to ask. It was a joke, okay? Don’t take it seriously? Okay?”

“If you say so.”

After a short pause, one of them lowered his head.

“Sorry…I lied. I shouldn’t do that. I shouldn’t lie about the important things.”

“No, I’m sorry. I lied too. It’s just that I’m more of an ass man, so I didn’t want to give in.”

“I see.”

Some of the guys in the crowd smiled at each other and placed a hand on each other’s shoulders, but an occasional guy would exit the crowd to invite one of the girls to join him. They were mostly high school aged and some were closer to middle-aged, but they would all start by standing in front of the girls.

“––––– ”

The dancer’s smile and comment from the girl in front would put a bitter smile on their face as they looked up into the sky.

That exchange happened a few times, but suddenly something else happened.

“–––––?”

The boy who exited from the valley of people was younger than all the previous ones. He was still middle school aged. His blushing face was filled with tension, but he still stood before the girls.

But his lips trembled as he tried to speak and he was unable to form the words.

“…!”

The boy bent his right elbow and held it out toward the dancer at the front. He was asking her to take his arm.

The entire surrounding crowd gulped at the action.

“––––”

And then they either laughed lightly or gave sympathetic sighs at what was coming.

Their reactions caused the boy to blush an even deeper shade of red and hang his head.

But with a light laugh, some hair flew through the air. The hair spread out like a cloud filled with wind and then it danced about. The sudden action caused the surrounding people to fall silent.

“–––––”

The girl in the lead removed one of the ribbons in her hair and wrapped it around the boy’s arm. She gently but surely tied the decoration to his proffered elbow.

She then lightly tapped his elbow. It was a rejection and a sign for him to return to everyone else. He looked at the cloth wrapped around his arm, looked at her, and then nodded.

“––––!”

He swung his elbow up to show everyone.

“…!!”

And the crowd welcomed the boy back with cheers and applause.

As she watched the boy be swallowed up by the crowd, the dancer spread her arms slightly and bowed lightly toward them all. A few people cheered and she calmly began walking once more. Once she did, the crowd parted before her.

As they walked, the black-haired girl second from the lead glared at the dancer and asked her a question.

“What was that strange ritual just now, Kimi?”

Kimi did not turn around as she walked in the lead. She merely left behind the words to answer the question.

“It’s simple, Asama. England’s self-proclaimed gentry are challenging the summit’s flower which was discovered in the Battle of Mikawa.”

Asama listened to Kimi while watching out for the kobolds that occasionally cut across the road.

“But they are taking me too lightly. After all, they are all inviting me by saying ‘how about you come with me’ or something similar. I don’t like it. They make such a casual invitation for protection in case I refuse. If I do and people laugh at them, they can laugh it off as if it were a joke from the beginning. Why would I accept an invitation like that? That is why I tell them other guys would be joining us as well.”

“Then what about that boy just now?”

“Ha ha,” she laughed quietly. “He silently held out his arm as if to say ‘come with me’. It was forceful, but it did a nice job of making me pass judgment. He was not the same as the others. He was seriously asking me if he was good enough. I could not respond so lightly to him. He had the right attitude.”

“Then why did you give him the ribbon?”

Kimi responded immediately.

“That’s simple. I can’t let him mistakenly think that dressing up nicely and being forceful is enough to win acceptance from a girl. He had the right attitude, but he still lacked quite a bit. There is also looks, strength, other obligations, his finances, his job, etc. There were still a lot of unknowns. I have no intention of being satisfied by a boy like that. I am sure he will pick another flower one day, but he still has a long way to go before that day comes. But that outstretched arm was not a mistake, so I rewarded him with one of my ribbons to tell him that.”

“Does my brain still have a long way to go? Because that sounds like the reasoning of a drunk to me.”

“If a woman cannot grow drunk on herself how can she intoxicate others with her presence?”

“Um.” Asama lightly waved her hands back and forth. “I’ve never actually been drunk.”

This produced whispers from Naito and Mitotsudaira behind her.

“Doesn’t Asamachi train with sacred sake every day?”

“I thought the shrine banned her from drinking when she started using it as a substitution. Wasn’t that during middle school?”

…''First my chest and now my liver. I feel like it is always body-related jokes with me.

She felt her height was the same, but then Kimi’s hair waved back and forth in front of her.

“I have also been deflecting the ones after you, so you should be thankful.”

“Eh? …Ehh?”

She had not expected that. For some reason, the word “indecent” entered her mind and heat filled her cheeks. She frantically spoke up now that she knew her safety was in the hands of the deviant walking before her.

“U-um, m-make sure you reject all of them, okay?”

“Judge, judge. I am not foolish enough to let any impurities approach Musashi’s main cannon shrine maiden. That would cause trouble for my foolish brother and the others. Just leave it to me. I can speak English.”

“You can?”

“Judge,” answered Kimi. “Knowing the words ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘eros’, and ‘dance’ is enough to hold a conversation.”

“Wh-who let this idiot take the lead!? Oh, I’m so glad I realized this now!”

“It doesn’t matter. Just like on the Far Eastern mainland, a translation spell is in effect on England, so there won’t be any problems. More importantly…”

Kimi turned toward them. She looked at Mitotsudaira, Naruze, and Naito.

“Has anything changed in our search for my foolish brother and Horizon?”

“By the way, where are Seijun and Masa-yan?” asked Naito.

“Masazumi went to a used book sale in Westminster. Masa said something about working with the engine division to repair the Musashi and collect parts for Jizuri Suzaku,” explained Asama. “We will meet up with Masazumi in the park on Oxford Street which runs between Soho and the City. Toori-kun and Horizon will meet us there as well.”

Kimi nodded.

“Heh heh heh. Not much further and we can spy on my foolish brother and Horizon’s date. We are only a slight mistake away from being stalkers, but that kind of twisted concern is so lovely! If Suzu could join us, we could use her sensors to listen in! Let’s eavesdrop! …This would be a lot easier with a ninja. Did that ninja say he is checking on the experimental wheat field with that hooded gentleman?”

“Judge,” said Naito. “Once the festival is over, Tenzou will be leaving England with Musashi, so he probably wants to do as much as possible while he can.”

“Probably,” agreed Asama, but then she turned toward Naruze. “Naruze, you don’t have to sell your printed books like Neshinbara-kun is?”

“You don’t have to avoid calling them doujinshi, you know? Anyway, this event is being held every day this week and our section isn’t until the fifth day. I’ll be taking part again with a different section on the seventh day, though. Neshinbara wrote a novel, so he’s today. Speaking of which, he’ll probably have some trouble. With Shakespeare…” Naruze held up her right arm. “And the whole Macbeth issue, I doubt anyone will want to approach him.”

“What was the name of that Tres Españan academy for young children? The 13th Mutsugoirei Academy?”

“Heh heh heh. If you are going to look into people’s pasts, keep it to the ones you have fallen for, gossiping shrine maiden,” said Kimi. “Whether one’s past has a major impact or not, even incidents in one’s past that leave no memory are part of the environment that shapes them. In that case, learning someone’s past is the same as wishing to live in the same way as them. Understand?”

“Understand what?”

“Shakespeare said she and Neshinbara have the same past. …As a girl, don’t you hope for an adorable future there?”

“You make it sound like you hope for love even from stalkers.”

“What’s wrong with that? If we were not all protected by the law, everything we did would be a crime. So let us enjoy ourselves like criminals in this land with different laws. …Mitotsudaira, what are you looking at?”

In response to Kimi’s question, Mitotsudaira looked to the right.

“There is a park over there.”

The others only had to look. The park beyond the crowd was a square patch of land thirty meters long. It was likely a local gathering spot. A simple bazaar had naturally been set up there, but there was another gathering as well.

“The Landsknechte are recruiting warriors.”

The Landsknechte were a combat club in M.H.R.R. which had been created for the history recreation. They were modelled off of the Kriegs Georgern and its members belonged to academies in M.H.R.R.

…''But in exchange for money, they will fight for any nation as transfer students.

They essentially ignored the national borders.

The world was based around students and the academies disliked the idea of “soldiers”, but the Landsknechte acted outside of the academies. That allowed them to use the history recreation as an excuse to refer to themselves as mercenaries.

Usually, the Landsknechte leader and his close aides would travel to different places while maintaining a supply unit for food and a canteen run by prostitutes. In lands at war, they would recruit soldiers, join the fight, and continue fighting if necessary.

“You sometimes see them in the reservations. For the Far Eastern people to fight in a war to defend the nation with provisional rule over them, they must become transfer students using the mercenary system.”

The unit in the park already had a supply unit which was running festival stands.

They were aided by women whose clothes bore the chicken and squirrel emblems indicating a prostitute. Those women also lined up small items to sell.

''This is a wonderfully lively atmosphere,'' thought Mitotsudaira.

“But they are dying out now that every nation has their own army for the Thirty Years’ War.”

“That is still in its early stages, so they are still quite busy,” said Naruze from behind her.

Mitotsudaira regretted saying they were dying out in front of Naruze and Naito who were from M.H.R.R., but Naruze was looking in the same direction.

“M.H.R.R. does not have a combined national army due to the increasing decentralization of the principalities, so a mercenary organization that is not bound by the principality borders is very useful. Even if the principalities fight, the mercenaries can be united via money if a crisis falls over M.H.R.R.

“Anyone can join, but a chivalrous desire to protect something lies at the base of it all. Their opponent is decided by money, but that means they always have a path that can never be destroyed. Before a battle, the Landsknechte kneel on the ground and kiss the earth. That may be a sign of their desire for a united empire that is impossible with the current divided principalities.”

Before their eyes, men lined up in the park and the leaders accepted them.

A spear with their recruitment charter or “Bat Brief” attached was set up at the park entrance. Next to it, the recruitment commander tried to convince people to join while a hired band played as loudly as they could manage.

In the park, the people were divided between the candidates awaiting inspection and those whose inspection was complete.

And something existed between the two groups.

“That is the Landsknechte’s famous gate of inspection known as the Spear Gate.”

Two spears stood a meter apart with the butt end down. The upwards-pointing tips had a pike lying between them. The makeshift inspection gate used the spell cast on the spears and pike to determine the characteristics of whoever passed through it. Mitotsudaira was fairly certain the spears where from M.H.R.R.’s Eisenritter brand which ensured durability and sharpness with the thickness of the spears. The pike on the other hand was a straight and long weapon from the Holy Knights’ Steel Association brand.

…''That means the mercenaries do not distinguish between Catholic and Protestant.

Supply officers stood to either side of the gate. A secretary stood beyond the gate to record the surname, baptismal name, and birthplace of those who passed through. Occasionally, the inspection gate would emit a chime and the person passing through would begin a discussion with the supply officers.

“You’re an idol worshipper, aren’t you? What? Your closet is filled with holy figurines? Most of your unit is Protestant, so be careful. …Fine then. Our warrior’s compassion will allow you to carry one with you, but just this once.”

It was unclear whether that was actually kind or not, but it seemed warriors handled this sort of thing in a roundabout fashion.

“Why are the Landsknechte recruiting here in England?” asked Asama with a tilt of her head.

“Well, Asama,” said Naruze. “This recruitment is for those in England who aren’t students. The academy rules say only a student can oppose other students. And anyone who joins the Landsknechte temporarily joins the M.H.R.R. academy of AHRRS. That means they are a student, so they can join England as a transfer student and freely protect England from Tres España. It’s a convenient method for those who quit being students for some reason or another.”

“Hashiba is not opposing England, so you can also view it as a way to earn some points here.”

As they spoke, the recruitment commander began performing an oath with those who had passed through the Spear gate.

“Listen up! As Landsknechte, you will abide by the AHRRS academy rules and the 74 Landsknechte regulations of duty! First, when marching, ‘Give your all, Always stay the pace, and Yearn to continue on’. Remember those rules of G-A-Y, and you’ll do fine! Next, to ensure a balanced diet with your provisions…”

As they all nodded at the basic stipulations, they held their right hand and two fingers up toward the commander and gave their oath.

“I swear it on the Testament.”

The girls of Musashi sweated nervously as they listened to the stipulations and oath.

“No running in the halls, keeping a balanced diet, and flattening their milk cartons? Th-that is quite a strict oath.”

“You eat nothing but meat, so you need to add water and bread to balance out your diet.”

“Kimi, I think you would be kicked out the instant they performed a uniform or hairstyle inspection.”

As they all watched the mercenaries, Naruze spoke up.

“Of course, I think Tres España is doing the same thing with the Kriegs Georgern who are the Landsknechte’s rival and the organization they are modelled off of. The Kriegs Georgern are pro-Catholic, so they are on good terms with K.P.A. Italia. Due to his position, the pope cannot own a private fighting force, so he has the Kriegs Georgern protect him. The Landsknechte are more numerous while the Kriegs Georgern are more disciplined, so it’s hard to say how this will turn out.”

“…You know a lot about this.”

“I suppose I do,” she said, but she said nothing more about herself. She instead steered the conversation back toward the mercenaries. “The prostitutes running the canteen are succubi, right? They can give men any dream they want. Any painful memories or farewells in their past can be redone with that power. It’s said that any guy will find themselves crying when they wake up. And the skilled ones can apparently make anyone call her ‘mother’.”

“I see,” said Mitotsudaira. She then had a thought concerning that dream-giving ability. “What would you think if the chancellor wanted to resolve his regrets in that way?”

Her casual comment caused Asama to turn around. She had a surprised look on her face.

“Um…”

Hearing the shrine maiden hesitate, Mitotsudaira belatedly realized her question had been inappropriate.

…''I seem to be lacking in prudence today.

She decided to change the subject, but Kimi asked her a question before she could.

“Mitotsudaira, do you still have my foolish brother’s trail?”

“Eh?”

Mitotsudaira immediately restated her response.

…''Oops.

“Judge. He is up ahead on this road. His hair smells the same as yours.”

“You’re pretty amazing, Mito-tsan.”

“The chancellor and Horizon wash their hair with the same shampoo and Kimi has been taking care of Horizon’s hair every night recently.”

“True.” Kimi had her back to them, but Mitotsudaira heard her laugh. “Just my foolish brother was fun enough, but now I have a little sister who is as cute as a doll and I can touch her with my own hands. My life is trending upwards so much that every day sets a new high score. Just think about it: there is an idiot who is trying to conquer the world and a cement-like girl who actually has the authority to do so…and I am their older sister. So who will hold the highest position in the future? That would be me, wouldn’t it?”

''How is anyone supposed to mentally defeat this girl?'' wondered Mitotsudaira, but Kimi brushed up her hair with a laugh and continued speaking.

“So if I do not keep a level head, the entire world will go crazy.”

“Are you saying you are a balancer for the world?”

…''Even Kimi had to have been surprised when Horizon suddenly appeared. Probably. Maybe. If there is even the tiniest bit of normalness in her.

Mitotsudaira had also not known what to do about that reunion of old friends after ten years, learning that old friend had lost her memories, and learning that she was a Logismoi Oplo automaton. Mitotsudaira had not known how to react to that girl or if she should simply leave things be and see what happened.

…''Either way, I would be leaving it to the chancellor.

Mitotsudaira was grateful that Horizon had approached her during the yakiniku the night before. After all, it had taught her that Horizon was not wary of her. Now she just had to figure out what to do about it.

''At any rate,'' she thought before speaking to the others.

“If we continue to gather this much attention, the chancellor and Horizon will notice us once we get closer.”

“Heh heh. You want to split up? I thought wolves hunted in packs?”

“Would you rather I gave instructions as the pack leader? Split up and track them.”

Just as Mitotsudaira followed up her instructions with a small snort, a shadow suddenly filled the sky.

She frowned and looked up.

A vermilion aerial ship passed by overhead. The logos of a nation and academy that it bore on the sides indicated that it was a diplomatic ship.

“That ship is from Tres España’s Alcalá de Something!” exclaimed Asama. “Why is it in England!?”

“That would be Alcalá de Henares. …And the armada battle may be approaching, but Tres España and England are not complete enemies. Tres España has likely sent an ambassador. As soon as this festival ends, Tres España will probably declare war and send out their invincible fleet.” Mitotsudaira took a breath and continued as she heard a bell ringing to the north. “Either during this festival or at its end, Mary Stuart’s execution will be determined.”

Two people stood on the front deck of the vermilion diplomatic ship floating in the sky. Being a diplomatic ship, the terrace was made so one could view the ground below. Standing there were a girl with two false arms and a lean long-lived man with a mustache.

The long-lived man, Velázquez, spoke to the girl, Gin.

“It looks like we are being confined here, but we should be able to return to the third level. I guess we can’t fly right up to the embassy. …But look, Gin. Isn’t that Mary Stuart in the Tower of London?”

He pointed toward a building on the first level several kilometers away, but Gin only narrowed her eyes.

“I apologize, but you are a mountain-type long-lived race, correct?”

“What? Oh, sorry. My sight is a lot better than yours. It’s a racial difference.”

Velázquez sent his brush dancing through the air and painted a picture in midair.

The picture showed the source of the ringing bell. He painted the Tower of London to provide a magnified image.

In only a few seconds, he completed the image of a fortress with a tower in all four directions.

“The Tower of London,” said Gin with a nod. “It is technically both a fortress and a palace. It exists in front of Oxford Academy, the queen lives there, and political prisoners are kept there.”

“Can you see it?”

“Testament.”

Gin could see a woman looking down from the viewing platform below the tower’s roof. She wore England’s girls uniform. Her hat and the blind covering her face made her age impossible to judge. However…

“She is likely the same age as us, but I cannot say for sure with her face hidden.”

“You say ‘us’, but that’s a wide range if you include me.”

“I was using Muneshige as the standard.”

“Testament, testament. I see. But she is a spirit and human mix. The spirit was a dryad, I believe. She was born between a Celtic spirit and Henry VIII. I don’t like not being able to hear anything, but people are probably shouting insults.”

“No, I do not think so.”

“Why not?” asked Velázquez.

Gin pointed at Mary in the painting.

“Someone who bears herself like this would have a detached attitude if she were being insulted. She would likely look up into the sky. I cannot be sure with the blind in the way, but I think she is looking down into the city.”

“You mean she is exchanging glances with the people?”

“Testament. It is as if she is asking them if they have anything to say to her.”

“Women are scary,” muttered Velázquez before scratching at his head. “What should we do? She’s Catholic like us, so should we go save her?”

“Why would we ruin the history recreation more than necessary? Our visit here is acceptable as long as it leaves no records, but that would be unavoidable if we rescued her.”

“You’re becoming more and more like Juana.”

“No, I have a long way to go,” stated Gin. “It takes one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings to spread your legs and use your breasts like that for the man you are interested in. I have realized how much I still have to learn.”

“…I think you’ve made some kind of major misunderstanding.”

“Let us set that aside.” Gin used a hand to stop him and then pointed toward the ship they stood on. “The armada battle we must fight will begin shortly after Mary Stuart is executed. Once that is over, Tres España’s decline is guaranteed and the nation’s policy will turn toward controlling and stopping that decline.”

“That would be nice, but nations cannot always follow the ideal path. It requires money, after all. Tres España poured more money into the armada battle than any other event in its history, so it could easily lead to our decline no matter what result it has. Everyone is trying to bring the battle to a nice end, but it will be difficult to achieve a result that lets us stand up to the other nations. Whether we can do this or not is…”

Velázquez stopped there and placed a hand on his head as if holding his hat in place.

“Sorry, I know I should keep a more positive outlook as the older one.”

“Testament. You are quite pessimistic. I did not realize you were that kind of person.”

“Really?” Velázquez smiled a bit. “Then maybe I should tell you this: you’re just as ignorant of the world as I thought.”

“That is not a problem as long as I have Muneshige,” declared Gin. She raised her false arms a bit, nodded, and spoke as if to herself. “I am a boring girl, after all.”

“Is that so?” asked Velázquez in a tone that said he did not agree. “So is the meeting over?”

“Why are you using a word from the enemy’s language like ‘meeting’? Our secretary is a very free person, isn’t he?”

“You probably shouldn’t use the English word ‘free’ when saying things like that. …Anyway, don’t forget your job. All the others are kids who have their hands full with themselves and someone else, so I have to keep things running smoothly as your elder. And I’ll do anything to ensure it.”

“Allow me to make a correction. Our secretary is a very kind person.”

“Hah. I already knew that.”

Suddenly, Gin froze in place and Velázquez frowned.

The bell had stopped ringing.

The sound lingered for a bit, but Gin merely stared toward the second level.

“The atmosphere has changed.”

“…? Yes, Mary is gone. She must have gone back inside.”

“Testament. But that is not all. What is this?”

Gin closed her eyes and focused on her ears. She could hear the distant people enjoying the festival.

“A powerful presence has entered the city. No, several of them. The people have sensed these presences which has produced a subtle change in the festival noises. Some are heading toward them and others are avoiding them. I can only say two things for sure.” She took a breath. “They are not attempting to hide their presence and their objective is unknown. Secretary, please land this ship somewhere as soon as possible.”

“What are you going to do, 3rd special duty officer?”

“It is simple. I will join the festival to sound out the objective of these presences. Have you forgotten the mission Lady Juana gave us?”

She went on to remind him what that was.

“We are to declare war and, if possible, find an excuse beyond Mary’s execution so England has no way of escaping.”

As the ringing of the bell lingered in the air above the wheat field, Scarred looked toward the second level.

…''What is this?

The movements of the wind and earth spirits told her something was happening. The spirits that human eyes could not see were worried about the city.

Those spirits were a lot like ether, so ley line disturbances bothered them the most.

…''People using spells or bearing weapons have entered the city without sealing anything off.

And…

…''I know what that means.

She turned toward him and narrowed her eyes.

“We have spent an extravagant amount of time here.”

“Hm?” Tenzou turned around and tilted his head. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she responded with a bitter smile. “Are you interested in the festival on the second level?”

That question caused Tenzou to look toward the second level just as she was.

“How odd,” he said.

“What is?”

“Testament. The noises of the city are not merely those of joy or excitement. I am detecting shades of confusion and surprise. They both sound the same at first, but…”

The wind blew in as he spoke.

That wind seemed to wash across the land.

It contained a heat that indicated the change from morning to midday. It was produced in the warm ocean and city and it met in the middle at the wheat field.

“Ah.”

“Are you all right, Scarred-dono?”

Tenzou moved in front of her to block the wind, but she did not put her cloak’s hood back up. She stood amidst the short and still-growing wheat and used her fingers to brush her hair back into place. The wind weakened, but it did not die down altogether.

The wind spirits were confused. Some were trying to flee the city and some were on their way to see what was happening in the city. Those two groups were running into each other, shaking free of each other, and restraining each other.

But as the wind blew, Scarred narrowed her eyes and looked up at him.

…''Everything has decided to take the first step.

So…

“Shall we head to the upper levels, Master Tenzou?”

“What?”

His tone made it clear he had not expected this question, so she smiled.

“I can go all the way to the first level.”

“Eh? Oh, um…b-but why?”

If she had asked him if he did not want to, he would likely have gone with her.

And so…

“Because I want to go there with you.”

“What?”

Scarred found his confusion a bit frightening. She did not know if he was simply surprised or if he did not feel that way about her in the least, but it did not sit well with her heart.

And so she continued speaking.

“I will guide you to the location of the Princess Disappearance I know about.”

“That would be…”

Scarred watched as a look of realization appeared on Tenzou’s face and then his hesitation vanished. He had realized this was a job as a ninja of Musashi.

“Please do,” he said with a nod.

“Judge,” she replied with a nod of her own. She then looked up at his diligent expression. “But do you mind? There is one thing I must take care of.”

“Judge. What is it?”

“Judge. If we are to go there, we must pass through the city and the festival occurring there. I must first buy things at some of the festival stands and offer some of it to the earth spirits. After that, I must walk around a bit to aid digestion and then take a short rest.”

“I see. So it is the same as a battle.”

“Judge. It is indeed a type of battle. I will be changing into my casual clothes, so please wait a moment. We can meet at the carriage stop up above. A carriage will come by every ten minutes today.”

“Judge,” replied Tenzou with a bow.

As he turned around, Scarred walked toward the village she lived in.

She heard him muttering to himself behind her.

“Huh? …Something about that seems odd. But I suppose it could be true.”

She smiled bitterly and sensed the atmosphere of the city from the noises carried by the wind.

“…”

She closed her eyes, decided to force a smile, and quickened her pace.

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 2 Chapter 27|Chapter 27]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 40

2016-03-18T11:40:29Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 40: Dragon of an Azure Place */

==Chapter 40: Dragon of an Azure Place==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0213.jpg|thumb]]
''Is it you or someone else

''That shouts

''Roars

''And provides unclear resistance?

'''Point Allocation (Power)

Yoshiyasu looked back from atop Righteousness to follow the path of the shot.

It was a high-speed cannon blast that used its kinetic energy to provide destruction. Based on the sound, it was a Far Eastern 10 ''sun'' caliber cannon with a barrel length of more than thirty calibers. There was no shockwave from the muzzle when it was fired, so…

…''Is that why the Yamagata Castle left its defense barriers up even after the cannon fire from the left and right ended!?

No, Mogami’s ruler had been in control of the cannons this entire time, so this shot had not been made on a whim.

“Was all of this leading up to this one shot, Mogami Yoshiaki!?”

Yoshiyasu faced forward again to see the fox on the Yamagata Castle’s rooftop.

The nine tails was making the final motion of her dance. She swung the right of her two fans up in front of her and then spread it out. She reversed her wrist to point the front of the fan toward the sky, then she raised and closed it.

A moment later, a white explosion burst from the Jurakudai waiting in the southern sky.

The shockwave created by the force of impact had pushed the air out of the way on a large scale, causing fog to spread.

The fleets waiting in the southern sky of Kantou began moving in different directions.

The Dragon-class ships belonging to various Kantou nations, which were deployed around the Jurakudai and the rest of Hashiba Hidetsugu’s fleet, began slowly moving northeast.

They were spreading themselves out to act as a useless shield against the Ariake.

But Hojou’s barracks fleet did something else. They ignored the cannon fire from the north and moved southwest. They were distancing themselves from the water vapor spreading explosively from the Jurakudai’s front deck.

“Kotarou, send a divine transmission out to the supreme command ship. Tell them our fleet is not equipped with the defense spells necessary for high-speed physical shells, so we cannot protect them any longer. You may use my name if you wish. That would probably convince them more quickly.”

The Houjou flagship was the Odawara Castle. It was a flat angular warship and a girl with closed eyes and cattle horns spoke on the terrace atop the central ship. She was a dark-skinned demonic long-lived, but she had an automaton body. She slowly looked up into the sky.

A tremor ran through the clouds there.

Then a girl’s voice reached her from behind.

“That would be the Shirasagi, Ujinao-sama.”

“I know that perfectly well. It has been watching us since last night without resupplying. I can’t imagine how much national power P.A. Oda must have to make free use of a ship like that. Not to mention how much they must trust Hashiba.”

Ujinao did not sound discouraged and she turned to look at the ninja girl Mouse standing on the deck.

“We must eventually fight and defeat that Shirasagi…or rather, its Takigawa Ichimasu.”

“Can we really do that?”

“We will do just fine if you work at it hard enough, Kotarou.”

“I can’t do anything… I was only taken in by you.”

“Not true.” Ujinao rejected Kotarou’s words. “You picked up that footage from the northern border and from the west after the Battle of Mikatagahara.”

“If you get down to it, that was someone else’s accomplishment…”

“You are the one that did it and I was the one that asked for it. You always respond to my trust in you and I have received exactly the results I wanted from you. Where is the problem in that?”

“Ujinao-sama, sometimes you can be more logic-obsessed than a Mouse like me.”

“A cutting-edge Mouse like you is made up of far more logic than me.”

“I suppose so.” Kotarou sighed with a bitter smile in her voice. “But…”

She displayed a few sign frames and displayed the captains’ various opinions on the map of their course.

“Why isn’t Hashiba’s fleet moving? That was a significant explosion, but they aren’t moving and their alarms aren’t ringing. Even their captains are only saying to keep things as-is.”

“Testament. Keeping things as-is is a safe decision, so there is no problem there. That must mean they predicted something like this.”

“They predicted they would take a direct hit from a high-speed cannon without any defense barrier up?”

“And that is why they are not reacting. But…” Ujinao held her closed eyes. “I can see an odd premonition from beyond that explosion.”

“From the flow of ether?”

“Testament.” Ujinao nodded but gently tilted her head. “I have seen this kind of flow before. It isn’t exactly the same, but it’s similar. …The output is almost like…”

At that point, she suddenly looked over to the Ariake.

“A god of war!”

Jizuri Suzaku landed on the Ariake’s vast white roof with its claws scraping across the surface, but before its slide had finished, its stance crumbled.

“Jizuri Suzaku!?”

Naomasa sensed something from the god of war’s shoulder as it fell to its knees and slid to the side.

…''There’s thrust pushing at Suzaku’s back!

She looked back and saw the surface of some water. It was a fictional lake surrounded by sign frames. It was the power of “swamp” that the Suzaku controlled as one of the Four Sacred Beasts.

“Is something calling you!?”

The Suzaku’s OS created several boot-up preparation sign frames, but they were deleted once a safety activated. The countless programs appearing and disappearing told Naomasa something.

“This is just like when Satomi Yoshiyori’s Loyalty took off…”

At the end of the Battle of Mikatagahara, he had said the designs and OSs of their gods of war were based on one abandoned in a battle with the Ming remnants. Most likely, that had been the Suzaku of the Four Sacred Beasts.

In that case, what would be causing the same reaction now?

“Is one of the Four Sacred Beasts here!?”

More than just fall to its knees, the sliding Suzaku was about to topple forward. The defense tights on its legs tore and the gravitational control rail joints of the knees contacted the floor. Sparks and sounds of bending spilled out, but the Suzaku’s OS forcibly maintained its balance. However…

…''Oh?

Naomasa realized Jizuri Suzaku’s arm was swinging down toward her.

Of course, she had no recollection of ordering it to do so. Was she simply misinterpreting an action caused by the loss of balance? Or was this being controlled by the Suzaku’s OS?

She did not know.

However, she decided it may have changed a little amid the sign frames that were starting to vanish faster than they appeared.

“But the real problem is that.”

As the Suzaku’s arching curve along the Ariake’s roof armor came to a stop, she looked into the southwestern sky.

The explosion of fog was clearing up, revealing Hashiba Hidetsugu’s fleet.

When she had seen him earlier, Hashiba Hidetsugu had been a ghost boy with one dragon horn, but…

“So that’s what stopped the high-speed shell.”

As the fog cleared, a giant form came into view behind Hidetsugu. It was a giant god of war resembling an azure dragon. Several sign frames had opened around it and occasional static ran through it.

“Is that the Seiryu of the Four Sacred Beasts!?”

…''Eh?

Someone had a thought within the wind.

It was Adele.

Hashiba Hidetsugu’s fleet was too far from the Yamagata Castle to see properly, so a large sign frame on the bow displayed a magnified view.

But…

“…?”

Adele removed her glasses and checked on the distance between the lenses and her eyes.

However, she concluded there was nothing wrong with the glasses and narrowed her eyes toward the image on the sign frame.

“Huh?”

Something was not right.

They were transparent.

The boy with a single dragon horn was a ghost, so he was a little transparent in the sunlight. She understood that was just how ghosts worked, but…

“The god of war behind him is too…”

The Seiryu god of war had held its right arm forward to block the high-speed shell, but its form would occasionally grow fuzzy, like static was running through it.

'''Gold Mar:''' “Was it being pulled out of some other space like with Schwarz Fräulein, but something went wrong?”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Or maybe it had optical stealth on, but it didn’t completely come off? …Hiro!”

'''347:''' “Ah! Sorry, but I can’t tell without seeing it for myself. And I’m not sure I’d be able to tell even if I did see it. Still, I doubt it’s optical. If it was, it should have immediately gone back up after getting hit by a simple physical shell and whatever spell was on it.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “So was its summoning not set up right? But it did stop the shell, didn’t it? What’s going on?”

The answer was they did not know.

…''But really though. What is going on here?

Adele leaned forward and heard Yoshiaki speak quietly while finishing her dance and maintaining her final pose.

“Poor Masamune.”

“Eh?”

Adele looked over and noticed that Yoshiaki’s shoulders looked a little slumped.

Then the fox noticed the girl.

“Do you need something?”

As soon as she asked that, the Seiryu god of war vanished from the large sign frame in front of them.

The giant god of war utterly vanished before Adele could ask anything.

And before she could react…

'''Worshipper:''' “Whaaaaat!? The god of war just up and disappeared!?”

''Laborer:''' “We can tell that, so you don’t have to say it.”

'''Asama:''' “B-but what was that just now!? Ah! Kimi! Please don’t cover your ears and hide when this is all that happened! W-wait. Not between my legs…”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh. What are you saying, Asama!? A kiddy-looking dragon god of war just pulled off an illusion! This has to be the dragon god’s curse against those who cheated the dragon! If you don’t believe it, you can face the dragon’s wrath all on your own! Like the Toilet God’s Ultimate Electricity Technique: Bathroom Sandal (Shared)!”<ref>The English words Sandal and Thunder are almost identical in Japanese.</ref>

…''Oh, that’s an original divine spell from Final Overthrowing III which has a lot of fun class changing.

As Adele recalled that, lightning struck.

“Eh!? The sandal?”

Adele saw the light of the lightning strike that suddenly occurred in the clear afternoon sky.

However, it did not fall. It was emitted in every direction from a single point in the sky.

That point was to the west, at the center of the Date fleet.

The light raced across the sky, but its source continued to create more without end.

This occurred on the Kawai Castle, the Date clan’s god of war carrier connected to the Musashi diplomatic ship.

The lightning produced a tearing sound and it spread in every direction like ivy.

Whip-like blasts of lightning struck and scorched the deck. Blowing wind and impacts assaulted the bridge.

The light did not stop.

The light was so bright it seemed to dye everything white rather than just illuminate things and a few silhouettes were visible inside it.

The largest one was Urquiaga the half-dragon in a defensive stance.

He saw something at the center of the white light. Masamune stood there, but behind her…

…''A god of war!?

He could see the dragon-like silhouette backlit by the lightning and he saw it tearing at its throat as if to rip something apart.

''What is this?'' he wondered.

It had occurred as he descended to the deck after ending his battle with Narumi.

Masamune had suddenly held her mouth and bent over.

“Ah…!”

A tearful voice had burst from her mouth. He had thought something had attacked her, but then she had wrinkled her brow and bent as far back as possible as a great pressure appeared behind her.

It took the form of wind, but Urquiaga had determined its true form was pressure. He had seen the mist that was actually scattering ether.

That was why he had thought something quite large was being summoned behind her.

As he had wondered what it could be, the bright lightning had appeared as an answer. More accurately, it was an explosion of ether light.

Then it came. The god of war had appeared behind Masamune, either copying her movements or controlling her movements depending on how one looked at it.

It was the Seiryu god of war. It was the one that had appeared behind Hidetsugu a moment before, but…

…''It isn’t transparent!?

It was solid. As its definite weight shook the deck, Masamune took the same actions as the dragon-designed machine.

The hands on her throat powerfully and definitely dug down into her flesh.

“…!”

A moment later, Urquiaga heard a crash.

It was Oniniwa. The Oni god of war in the sky behind them crashed knee-first into the dragon god of war.

The two gods of war collided with each other, one standing and the other accelerating through the air.

A metallic sound was followed by repeated sounds of armor panels crashing together and raining down.

But it was meaningless.

With its hands on its throat, the dragon god of war blocked Oniniwa’s knee with its right elbow.

“————!”

It roared and extended its right arm to knock the giant Oni to the deck.

Rather than the sound of heavy steel crashing together, it was the sound of armor sliding across the polished deck. However, Oniniwa slid his legs around to correct his stance.

“I’m not done yet!”

He gave a shout and a roar, but it was already too late.

The dragon god of war flew from the center of the light. It pulled back its right arm and raised its head like a cobra before making a great leap. It sent its right fist toward Oniniwa as he stood up.

The stance and everything else about the strike were a complete mess.

However, lightning surrounded its arm and the wrist onward glowed white.

“…!”

Its fist tore through the air. A ring of water vapor spread and scattered through the air, but…

“Masamune!!”

Narumi’s mobile shell flew. In the long shadows of the vanishing light, her Unturning Centipede pulled long mandible swords from the empty air. There were eight in all and her target was the dragon god of war’s right arm.

The vermillion jaws bit down with enough force to sever that limb.

They hit.

However, they were broken. The first, second, and third shattered and the fourth broke into pieces. The fifth and sixth split at the joints and the seventh broke in two. The eighth vibrated until it was destroyed.

By that time, sixty-four of them had been added and they drew a large arc.

This was no longer a slash or any other kind of sword technique. The dozens of meters of mandibles were going to crush their target. But the azure dragon spread its wings this time and light burst from all six of them.

“————”

Its roar became forward motion and it changed direction.

It faced Narumi instead of Sagetsu, Oniniwa’s god of war.

Narumi chose to face the blue speed head-on. She held herself in midair and controlled the thirty-two pairs of mandibles as they raced through the sky.

But the Seiryu was faster. It leaped in a straight line between the mandibles sent by Narumi.

The vermilion blades were too slow. The Seiryu’s outstretched claws were going to hit. However…

“Honestly!”

Narumi hurriedly raised a hand in the air behind her.

“If you have a grudge against me, just say so, Masamune.”

Unturning Centipede grabbed the hilts ejected into its hands and prepared to use them as a counterattack.

But a sudden voice rang out. It came from the Musashi’s ambassador.

“You can’t!!”

Oniniwa did not understand what had happened.

“Mh…”

He was looking forward.

He was on the deck of the Date clan’s god of war carrier. That was where he had originally been, but the scene had changed.

The Seiryu god of war had vanished and the ether light surrounding it had been entirely annihilated.

Not much time had passed. According to his god of war’s memory records, only three seconds has passed since he had stood up and this silence had filled his surroundings.

It was enough time to die, but still not a particularly long span of time.

However, they were alive. He could see the deck with the mark he had left while sliding along it and he saw the bridge rising up beyond the deck. The sky was blue and the white light was nowhere to be seen.

The god of war shaped like an azure dragon was nowhere to be found. It had disappeared.

The only movement was the wind.

He looked up into the sky as if seeking the wind blowing down from there, but Narumi was not there.

“Narumi. …Did she die?”

“I’m alive. I’m behind you. …But don’t turn around.”

“Don’t ask the impossible. My god of war has a wide range of vision.”

“And I’m in Sagetsu’s small blind spot right now.”

“I see.”

The god of war’s artificial sensation processing handled the sigh he could not express as just the machine.

…''But…

A single thought came to mind.

…''Masamune triggered that, didn’t she?

He looked straight ahead and found Masamune collapsed below the bridge. Musashi’s ambassador sat on the deck, supporting slender Masamune and holding the Date Chancellor’s hand between both of her own.

That bangs girl simply embraced Masamune and gently shook her in an attempt to wake her.

Then she called out to the unconscious girl.

“A-are you…okay? …Are you?”

When the Seiryu had appeared, Suzu had not known what was happening.

She had sensed a sudden sound, a sudden wind, a sudden shaking, and all sorts of danger. Plus…

…''Date’s…VI…P…

She thought her name was Masamune. The girl had seemed to be suffering. She had bent back, bent forward, squeezed her own body tightly, and cried out.

Suzu would be lying if she said it had not scared her. But another thought had come to mind too.

…''So much pain.

That thought was not about herself. It was about something inside Masamune.

She could not sense it and it may have been something she would have easily understood if she could see, but she had simply felt like the girl was suffering from something inside her.

Pain held power.

That was why people struggled and gave up. There were times when people could struggle and times when they could not keep up the fight to the end. There were also times when people could give up and times when they could not.

Whatever was inside this girl – whatever its shape, whatever its size, and whatever its temperature – did it hurt? Suzu did not know, but she knew there was something she could do.

She knew what she could do for someone who was worried and who could not see their surroundings.

…''Just like Toori-kun and Horizon did for me.

“Um.”

No. That quiet voice would not get through with all the noise around her. So…

“U…um!”

She spoke loudly, or at least as loudly as when singing for class. She raised her voice because she wanted to do something about the girl’s cries and pain.

“You can’t!”

She called to her and for a brief time that girl turned to face her.

''Good,'' thought Suzu. ''She noticed me.

But then the girl went limp and collapsed. That was why Suzu quickly supported her, but…

“It’s…going to be…all right…okay?”

By the time she questioned the girl, sat down with her in her arms, and held her hand, Suzu noticed the change to her surroundings.

The area had quieted down and heat had returned to the sky.

Urquiaga sensed the color blue and the normal wind. He had a single thought as he spread his wings in the sky and prepared the ejection ports in his legs.

…''When Mukai calmed Masamune down, the Seiryu vanished?

He did not really understand, but the Seiryu had vanished after Mukai’s shout of “you can’t”. And…

“Could you…let go of me?”

The object in his right arm spoke to him. It was the draconic mobile shell named Unturning Centipede. The mobile shell had released its right leg and right arm and it twisted its body around.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“You can’t tell?” he asked. “I saved your life.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“Then,” he said. “You intended to die.”

“—————”

“Well, anyway…”

He looked to a collapsed form. It was the person who had been standing with Suzu by the bridge.

“Masamune!” shouted Narumi.

“Pipe down. First you assume death and then you try to save someone. How can I trust you?”

“Then what about you? You fought me and then saved me…”

“My actions are perfectly consistent. …They always lead toward conquering the elder sister character.”

The one-legged Unturning Centipede kneed him with a “Why you…!” for good measure.

“You are the worst!” said Narumi. “So you only fought me and saved me to show off to Masamune?”

“Heh. …If you want to think of it as scoring points, I won’t stop you. The fact remains that I am making gradual progress.”

Unturning Centipede resisted, but she barely did any damage since he had adjusted his grip on her waist. Meanwhile, he looked to Masamune collapsed on the deck.

However, his thoughts were not focused on her.

…''What was that god of war?

It had resembled a dragon and it had been identical to another one: the one far, far from here he had only been able to see using his half-dragon vision.

“That was the same one that appeared behind Hashiba Hidetsugu, wasn’t it?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Adele saw Yoshiaki lower her fans.

Her eyes were focused on the large sign frame in the sky in front of them.

It displayed Hashiba Hidetsugu’s ship after the staticky azure god of war had vanished.

There was movement there.

Niwa supported Hidetsugu as he stood weakly on the deck and she led him back inside the ship. However, the girl standing next to Hidetsugu stepped forward.

She was a ghost, so the girl was a little transparent with the afternoon sun behind her.

She was not human. The white triangles of fur covering her ears told Adele what she was.

“…A werefox.”

Adele recalled what Masazumi had said about Mogami sending Yoshiaki’s daughter to Hashiba two weeks before as a hostage.

That daughter’s name was Komahime, but…

…''Why is she a ghost?

Her gaze was clearly focused on the Mogami fleet. She was looking at Mogami Yoshiaki. And…

“——————”

Komahime gave a deep bow.

“Ah.”

The footage on the sign frame filled with white light from below.

It was mist. It was the spraying water created when power filled the virtual sea covering the bottom of a ship so the ship could move. The virtual ocean allowing the Jurakudai to float was dyeing the sign frame in white.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Hashiba Hidetsugu’s fleet is leaving. They’re being pretty calm about it.”

The white waves and mist scattered as the fleet slowly changed direction. They exposed the relatively defenseless sterns, so they must have decided Mogami would not attack them again.

And that was why Yoshiaki raised one of her fans and closed it.

The large sign frame vanished, leaving only the forested and mountainous land, the Ariake, and the sea in view.

However, no one was moving any longer.

“You fool.” Yoshiaki hid her face behind her spread fan. “Bowing after a shot fired to sever the bonds between mother and daughter? Show some independence, girl.”

“Eh?”

Yoshiaki froze in place when she heard Adele’s voice.

“What do you mean ‘eh’?”

“Well, I had kind of figured as much…but you’re really her mother?”

Finally, a tremor ran through Yoshiaki’s shoulders. After a few breaths, she took one final deep breath, and removed the fan from her face. The smiling fox wiped tears from her eyes.

“Honestly…I laughed myself to tears.”

There was nothing Adele could say. Yoshiaki simply smiled at her with damp eyes.

“Is there anything you want? Snacks, a proper meal, water, or sake? Anything at all? For example…”

She paused before continuing.

“How about a meeting to set in motion the future of not just Oushuu and not just the Far East, but of the entire world?”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 39|Chapter 39]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 41|Chapter 41]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 24

2016-03-18T11:39:24Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 24: Out of Place Advisor */

==Chapter 24: Out of Place Advisor==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0533.jpg|thumb]]
''If someone has nowhere to go

''But they have somewhere to stay

''Where will they go?

'''Point Allocation (Everyone)

Masazumi watched the door slowly close after the Satomi Student Council President and Balfette left. She then made sure the divine transmission line with those outside was in place.

“Next up are the personnel going to Sviet Rus, but this one honestly carries a somewhat difficult problem. After all, they’re currently in conflict with P.A. Oda.”

She touched the sign frame map to slide it over to the Jouetsu region.

“Also, Sviet Rus’s Uesugi clan becomes a pro-Hashiba force after Nobunaga’s death and takes Hashiba’s side during the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. They remain enemies of Matsudaira for a very long time.”

“In that case,” said Nenji with a sigh. “We cannot send anyone important there.”

“Don’t be so quick to decide that.” Masazumi stood up, took a few steps, and stopped in front of someone. “Mary. Crossunite isn’t here now, but I want you and him to go to Sviet Rus.”

“Judge. I will be fine as long as I am with Master Tenzou.”

Masazumi was relieved by her immediate response and smile, so she turned around.

“Also…Horizon and Aoi.”

Asama looked up.

…''Eh?

She spoke a reflexive question to Masazumi as the girl looked their way.

“U-um, didn’t you just say we wouldn’t gain much from negotiating with Sviet Rus? And it’s a warzone now, so why would you send Toori-kun, Horizon, and even Mary there?”

“I do know why you would think that,” said Masazumi.

Kimi nodded from the next seat over and placed her hand on Asama’s shoulder.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“No. I just feel like Tenzou-kun would be back in three days no matter where we sent him.”

“True.” Kimi nodded again, rested her head on her hand, and looked in the same direction as Asama was. “Why do you want to send my foolish brother to Sviet Rus? The only souvenirs he could bring back are vodka and sake, and that would only make Asama happy.”

“It would not make me happy. …Ah! What are those looks for, everyone!? Toori-kun, you say something too!”

She turned toward the door he had been pinned behind before.

…''Huh?

“No one’s there?”

The area was abandoned.

…''Yes.

She decided to assume his absence was intentional.

…''Yes. Everything’s fine.

She could relax when she remembered that he had to be somewhere and that this was most likely the setup for some kind of joke.

Then someone moved in front of her: Horizon. The automaton grabbed a spare chair from by the wall, placed it near the center of the floor, and beckoned Persona-kun over.

…''This is going to be something weird again, isn’t it?

Persona-kun nodded silently and sat in the chair.

“————”

Soon, a forceful blow struck the bottom of the floor panel below Persona-kun’s chair. The idiot’s voice followed.

“Huh? It won’t open! That’s odd. Huh? Ahhhn? Ahiiin?”

“Judge. Please be quiet. I will nail it shut.”

“Don’t renovate my house! And aren’t you going to praise me for my setup?”

Horizon casually began hammering in some nails.

“Ah, dammit! She’s hammering them in as accurately as an expert carpenter! C-curse you! I’ll do it right next time! I swear it! I swear it!!”

Masazumi glared toward the idiot’s voice as he seemed to run away somewhere underground.

“Anyway, we know he’s here, so I guess I’ll explain why we need to focus on Sviet Rus.”

She took a breath and looked to someone by the wall.

“Augesvarer, take it away.”

“Judge, judge,” said Heidi as she opened a sign frame on Masazumi’s instructions.

Unsurprisingly, it displayed a map of the Far East. It was zoomed in on the area from Sviet Rus to southern Kantou.

“Erimaki, show it up above.”

On top of her head, Erimaki raised its front legs and displayed the map on the ceiling.

“Now, then.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled. “It’s really simple when you get down to it. Even without advancing the history recreation, P.A. Oda currently controls the center of the Far East, right? Before, their eastern provisional border was shared with Qing-Takeda, but the Takeda side of Qing-Takeda has been destroyed.”

The red representing P.A. Oda moved in from the west to reach the western side of Kantou, but something was there to resist their invasion.

“Sviet Rus is to the northeast, Houjou is to the southeast, and both the Qing forces of Qing-Takeda and Musashi’s Matsudaira are to the east. …Now, do you know what’s going to happen with this in the future?”

“Judge,” said Mitotsudaira. She looked up to the ceiling and placed a hand on her bare throat. “Qing-Takeda will be pushed further east and Houjou will be destroyed by Hashiba.”

“That’s right.”

Heidi lightly tapped Erimaki and the red advanced from western Kantou to the southern region bordering the ocean.

“Do you understand?” asked Heidi. “Eventually, Musashi’s only path to and from the western Far East will be through Sviet Rus. Sviet Rus’s Uesugi will eventually side with Hashiba, but since the Uesugi clan isn’t actually destroyed, they won’t become P.A. Oda. And on the Russian side of things, they’ll be anti-Mlasi.”

“That isn’t all,” said Shirojiro as he crossed his arms next to her. “Ever since the Mikawa incident, Musashi has been managing the deposits of the Far East reservations and the national wealth stored in that fashion. In other words, Musashi is running a giant bank. But…”

As soon as he said that, Heidi displayed another map of the Far East. The western end had a few red circles added.

“But ever since the Battle of Mikatagahara, most of the western forces have instructed us to freeze the money they have left with Musashi.”

“Freeze…the money?” asked Suzu.

Shirojiro nodded.

“It means they will not withdraw any, but Musashi is not to use it in any way.”

Immediately, someone else asked a question: Horizon. She tilted her expressionless head.

“What are those western academies trying to do? Why would they not withdraw their money but not let us use it?”

“It comes down to the threat of P.A. Oda, Horizon,” said Masazumi. “Even if they wanted to withdraw and use their money, they’ve just seen P.A. Oda take over K.P.A. Italia. Moving money around could make them the next target of an invasion. And even if they are invaded, they can recover if they still have that money waiting for them. So now that Musashi has lost to Hashiba, they want to leave that money with us, but they don’t want us using it. And since they think the odds are good Musashi will lose again, they can’t have us using the money they’ve left with us. Plus, freezing Musashi’s money will benefit our enemy, P.A. Oda. This is a decent performance to remain on P.A. Oda’s good side. But…”

But…

“A giant city ship like the Musashi would be useful to the western forces. However, we’re currently in the east and have no means of safely reaching the west. Since we lost to Hashiba, the western forces have to act on the assumption that we won’t be returning to the west in the near future.”

“I see. So if we were to start getting along with Sviet Rus…”

Still standing, Horizon placed a hand on her chin and suddenly raised her right foot to knee height.

“…the western nations will unfreeze their money with us and we will have proven we can overcome most of our financial troubles. That is why you want to send people as important as us. …Hnn!!”

She stomped her right foot, sending a light tremor through the floor.

Immediately, the sign frame by the ceiling broke and the nudist fell and crashed into the table with his limbs sprawled out.

Voices of surprise filled the café, but they quickly quieted down.

Yoshiyasu heard them from outside.

“…”

She looked to the vassal next to her, but the girl only gave the café a quick glance before turning back to the dogs.

“Okay, go patrol the area.”

She was unfazed.

…''Is that how things work here?

''When in Rome do as the Romans do, so I guess I should go along with this. But this is still odd.

While she wondered what was going on, Yoshiyasu checked her sign frame.

'''Vice President:''' “On the economic front and to have passage through the Far East, I do not want a hostile relationship with Sviet Rus. After all, they also possess a Logismoi Oplo. Also, if we pass west through Sviet Rus and cross Poland, we will be near M.H.R.R. and Holland.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “If we reach Holland, we will have effectively made a full circuit of the Far East.”

The Mito Lord’s words gave Yoshiyasu a thought.

…''I joined them at IZUMO, so I’ll have made a half-circuit.

Was it jealousy making her think that she had seen less of the world than them?

'''Vice President:''' “Well, I guess it will mean that. But if possible, I want to secure passage through the North Sea as well as a path to meet with Sweden’s Chancellor Christina and Holland’s Resistance Chancellor and Prince of Orange, as both will be victorious nations at Westphalia. So Mitotsudaira, you go to Sviet Rus too.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “What!? …But this is my land here.”

'''Vice President:''' “You’ll be their bodyguard. Not only do you have the actual strength, but you and Mary will ‘guard’ the others with your official positions. I’m sorry, but please try to look at it like that.”

“What does that mean?” asked the vassal.

It took Yoshiyasu a moment to realize the question was directed at her.

“O-oh… The Mito Lord is the daughter of a Hexagone Française VIP and Mary Stuart is the mother of England’s next king. Those nations aren’t in conflict with the Far East, but if something were to happen to those two, it could make an enemy of Hexagone Française and England. And in reverse, leaving a favorable impression on those two could improve those two powerful nations’ impression of you. Their positions make them the best bodyguards available.”

They were using all available personnel in every way possible. They must have really wanted to obtain stability with Sviet Rus.

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Th-then I have no choice. I will join the others as my king’s bodyguard.”

'''Scarred:''' “I too will join you, secure in the knowledge that I have a role here.”

Those older state guests had decided to act for the sake of Musashi’s future. So…

“I need to rethink some things too.”

Yoshiyasu was nervous, but she had a role to play and she had little else to do. If she also had no complaints with that role…

…''I just have to go.

As soon as she thought that, some text scrolled along the sign frame next to her face.

'''Me:''' “Fine then. It’s early summer, but I’ll have to prepare some winter clothes. But…hey, where’d Tenzou go? Doesn’t he have to hear all this?”

Mary was unsure what to do when everyone started focusing on her.

The focus made her a little nervous, but not enough to grow flustered. It was something else that moved her heart.

…''Master Tenzou.

She brought a hand to her mouth and thought for a moment, but then Naruze asked a question with a tilt of the head.

“Tenzou went to that scene of that attack last night, right? Is he doing his own investigation?”

“Eh? Yes, judge. That’s what he said.”

“Really?”

Naruze tilted her head further and exchanged a look with Naito.

“Most of the investigation was completed last night, so I don’t see much point in him going there,” said Naito.

“Well…”

When she trailed off, Mitotsudaira opened her mouth to help.

“I don’t blame him. He’s the 1st Special Duty Officer, but he was late to obtain that information last night. …He probably has some thoughts about that.”

And…

“Are you worried about that, Mary?”

There seemed to be some expectation in her voice, but she was exactly right. Tenzou had been silent that morning, except when he suddenly seemed to notice he was being so quiet. Then he had said: “O-oh. I was just thinking is all.”

Overall, he had seemed different from usual.

He had acted normal after that, but…

…''I wish he would confide in me more.

She sighed, but for some reason, those around her began fanning each other.

“Kimi! Kimi! Tenzou-kun has finally started to enter the zone!”

“Heh heh heh. That’s right, Asama! It’s summer, but the temperature is rising even further! There’s going to be lots of stripping!!”

Mary had no idea what they meant, but she thought they shared in her worries. Since he was not here, she decided to ask for some advice concerning him. She wanted to know what to do during times like this morning.

“Um, can I ask something about Master Tenzou? It’s about this morning.”

“Please do! Please do!”

Mary was surprised when a group of mostly girls leaned forward.

…''They’re all worried about Master Tenzou, aren’t they!?

She could not help but feel happy about that. He was thinking about a lot and worrying, so she was relieved to have the help of these veterans who had known him for a lot longer than her.

“Um, when I woke up this morning, Master Tenzou…”

She was not used to the Far Eastern language.

…''Wasn’t like his normal self.

She did not think that would get across what she wanted to say. No one else was around to see his “normal self” in the mornings, so she decided to search for simple way to explain the problem.

She thought about what to say.

He had been sitting on his bed hanging his head.

He had crossed his arms to signify he was thinking, but he had been groaning so much that she thought he might be sick. When she had called out to him, he had jumped in surprise and immediately turned toward her. That much was normal, but today…

…''Would you describe him as disappointed?

She had a feeling that was not quite right.

Disappointment was generally in response to something other than oneself. When it was towards oneself…

…''Regretful isn’t quite right and self-loathing is too strong.

“Oh.”

She found just the right nuance. It referred to the heavy downwards direction of his mood. Was it “feeling down”? No, she had a feeling she needed more words for emphasis.

“Yes. Ever since he woke up this morning, um…”

She placed a hand on her cheek. She had trouble with the Far Eastern language, but using their language would help them understand each other.

“Mater Tenzou has been feeling himself down below.”

“He went there!?”

'''Asama:''' “What should we do?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. Don’t you mean what do we ''want'' to do? But your bow would probably be overkill here. Doesn’t the shrine have a way of torturing him?”

'''Vice President:''' “W-wait! There’s clearly something wrong here! I say we double check on this!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Then good luck. Go ask Mary just what Tenzou was ‘feeling’.”

Masazumi took a step forward from the silent group and spoke to Mary.

“U-u-um, Mary? U-uh, about Crossunite…”

“Y-yes. Judge. What is it?”

“Um, w-was he really ‘feeling’ his p-pe…pe…no, I mean…” Masazumi blushed. “Down below!?”

Everyone sighed, so she turned toward them with a flourish.

“Y-you got a problem with that!? All that matters is that she understands what I mean!”

“You’re no fun, Seijun-kun.”

“Now, now,” said Mary as she nodded toward Masazumi. “Judge. Thank you for worrying, but it’s true.”

Yes.

“Since early this morning, Master Tenzou was feeling himself down below.”

'''Worshipper:''' “He’s quite the pervert.”

'''Uqui:''' “When did Tenzou grow so distant from us?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “I have an honest question. What do guys normally do in the morning?”

'''Boys:''' “Um…”

Mitotsudaira saw Masazumi’s shoulders droop as the girl stepped back.

She looked exhausted and Mitotsudaira considered giving her a word of support, but…

“You handle this.”

Masazumi tapped her shoulder.

“Eh? …Wh-why me!?”

She protested, but Masazumi averted her gaze and ignored her.

If it was her turn to add to the joke, there was nothing else she could do. She finally worked up her nerve, stood up, and stepped forward. She stood in front of Mary and forced a smile.

“Um…uh…”

She thought about what to ask. She of course had no intention of asking how healthy or hard the 1st Special Duty Officer was in the mornings. If she was going to ask about this, she had to do so more objectively.

“Mary, when you woke up, what was the 1st Special Duty Officer doing?”

“Judge. Master Tenzou was sitting cross-legged like this, facing the wall, hanging his head, and…quietly feeling himself down below. Yes.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “What was that guy doing with the wall this morning?”

'''Asama:''' “Mito! Mito! You mustn’t get emotional! Calm down!”

Mitotsudaira took a deep breath and swore to herself she would not forget to smile.

“Did you…see anything else strange?”

“Judge. I’m not sure I would call it strange…but if you ask me, he was feeling himself down below extremely hard.”

“Eh? …Extremely hard? Down below?”

“Yes. He has felt himself down below on occasion before, you see.”

“B-before? Um, since when?”

“W-well…”

Mary seemed a little concerned by how Mitotsudaira latched onto that comment. ''Oh, no,'' she thought, but then she saw Mary sighing.

“Sometimes when he’s busy at work, he doesn’t arrive in time to pick up our rations or he misses a chance to go on a walk with me. He tends to somewhat feel himself down below when that happens.”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “What has that guy been doing at the ration station?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. Somewhat feeling himself? …That ninja tries to be a sneaky ninja even there, doesn’t he?”

'''Me:''' “Y’know, this is pretty bad. Tenzou’s entering brand new territory here.”

Mitotsudaira did not want to agree, but she had to. Hoping this ordeal would end soon, she asked another question.

“And what did you do, Mary?”

“Well, I called out to him and he jumped in surprise.”

'''Me:''' “Yeah, that’ll happen if you’re caught off guard. I’m used to it, though.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “That’s something we’re really not too familiar with…”

''I suppose not,'' thought Mitotsudaira as new text arrived on her sign frame.

'''Still Got It:''' “But I think it’s best when a guy’s got that much energy. I don’t know if it’s thanks to my divine protection, but my husband is always ‘extremely hard’ in the mornings before he even wakes up, so we’re doing it ‘extremely hard’.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Why was that in the present continuous tense!?”

Mitotsudaira looked over to Asama who was in charge of the divine transmission settings, but she and Hanami refused to look her in the eye.

Mary then continued.

“Master Tenzou was the same during breakfast, so it was hard to bear.”

“Mary-sama, I believe that is the normal reaction,” said Horizon. “It would be difficult to enjoy your food like that.”

“Judge. That’s right. When someone important to you is feeling himself down below, it’s normal to be worried.”

“Yes, yes! Very normal!”

Mary seemed relieved that everyone agreed.

''Don’t worry, Mary. We have someone who can be a nudist, crossdress, and cook dumplings all at once, so we can give a proper retort…I mean, reaction to more normal strangeness.

But then Mary’s shoulders stiffened.

“But he won’t tell me why he’s feeling himself down below.”

“Well, explaining it can really ruin the mood,” said the idiot. “Hey, don’t look at me like there’s something wrong with me!”

“Um…” Mitotsudaira chose her words carefully to best describe what to do in that situation. “At times like that, I think it’s best to just be by his side. It can double as keeping an eye on his behavior. Anyway, um, what did he do then?”

“Judge. He went to inspect the site of last night’s attack while still feeling himself down below.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Is he an exhibitionist!? And what’s he planning to do there?”

'''Gold Mar:''' “I kind of think it would be best not to think about it too much.”

That was when the café door opened.

“Sorry I’m late. 1st Special Duty Officer, reporting for duty!”

Tenzou was a little disturbed when everyone gave him a look he had never seen before.

…''Eh!? What brought this on!? Is that a mix of contempt and anticipation?

“You’re the worst,” said Naruze. “But I’ll still put you in my doujinshi.”

“Wh-what is this about!?”

“Crossunite.”

For some reason, Masazumi was blushing as she held her right hand out toward him. Behind her, the idiot raised his right forearm a little and shook it up and down, but he ignored it.

“What is it, Masazumi-dono?”

“W-well, it can get in the way of your duties and there are a number of public morals issues, so try to stick to the more standard methods when controlling yourself. Also…don’t do it in public.”

''Is she talking about stress? Well, dealing with these awful people on a daily basis ''is'' exhausting.

Asama raised her hand.

“Masazumi, as our Public Morals Committee Member, I say you should rethink sending Tenzou-kun to Sviet Rus. …It would be a lot of trouble if he started doing it during a negotiation.”

“Personally, I think he’d lose it to frostbite in no time if he tried that in Russia,” said Naito.

''What are they talking about?'' he wondered and looked over to see Mary smiling at him with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

''Oh,'' he realized. ''This morning.

So he faced Masazumi.

“Not to worry. I had a lot on my mind, but after looking around the scene of the attack and thinking about some things, I’m feeling quite refreshed.”

“…Refreshed?”

“Huh? Why do you look so disturbed? I’m just saying inspecting the scene and moving my body around left me feeling refreshed.”

“We understand, so you don’t have to say it again.”

He had Noriki’s assurance, so Tenzou looked straight at Mary.

“Sorry for worrying you. …From now on, I will try to confide in you and…well, sometimes I might not say anything, but…”

He was afraid of how the others would react, but he said what he thought he needed to say.

“Can I rely on you at times like this, Mary-dono?”

Mary was briefly confused.

…''Um…

The others were saying something with their sign frames and Naruze was starting to draw something with unbelievable excitement, but…

“Um, you mean…”

His request to rely on her had confused her…or rather, she did not know how to react. After all…

…''This is the first time he has asked something like that of me.

No, it was possible he had when he had confessed, but that had been more about a powerful desire for her.

…''But this morning was about himself.

She had a feeling he would try to put on a brave face, but he would let her accept him.

“————”

She would be able to support him, the boy who had accepted all of her. He would let her. And he had called that “relying” on her.

…''Yes.

Mary obeyed the feeling inside her. She had decided in England to live her life the way she wished and she had gone to the person who would let her do that, so…

“Judge.” Mary smiled. “When you’re feeling like that, feel free to rely on me as much as you want. It would make me just as happy.”

“G-good. J-Judge.”

He nodded with his hat pulled deep over his eyes, so she gestured to the seat opposite her.

She was not sure she should already be thinking about what to do from now on. And she was worried it was conceited of her to think relying on her would allow him to continue saying he was “fine”.

But one thing did bother her.

“Um, Lady Masazumi? Master Tenzou will be fine, so can we get back to talking about Sviet Rus?”

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “I’ll send the details with the log, but the ambassadors to Sviet Rus will be Crossunite, Mary, Horizon, Aoi, and Mitotsudaira. …We’re counting on all of you.”

Crossunite answered after a moment.

“Judge.”

Masazumi heard him agree without hesitation and heard Mary breathe a sigh of relief.

…''I guess the two of them will have to come up with a fundamental solution about him “feeling himself down below”.

With that settled, she moved on.

“Next is who we’ll be sending to the Date clan.”

She looked to both of the people she was about to name.

“Mukai, Urquiaga. That will be you two.”

Suzu tensed up.

…''Eh?

She was surprised and caught off guard. She wondered why she would be chosen, but she also felt like this was the right decision. There was one main reason for that.

“Because of…England?”

“That’s right. You already have experience as a diplomat. You’re also the Musashi’s acting captain, so you’re more than qualified to be an ambassador.”

“Heh heh. Wait right there, flat-chested politician. Don’t you have something to tell her? You can draw people in by leaving things unsaid, but you mustn’t do that to those close to you.”

“Yes, I know. That’s why I said ‘more than’. Are you listening?”

Suzu nodded, so Masazumi continued.

“We’re giving them the Musashi’s acting captain, so from Date’s perspective…you’ll mostly be a hostage.”

“Really…?”

She often heard the word “hostage” in a suspenseful drama on the divine radio or television. Robbers would hole up in the bank, point their matchlock guns at the workers, and demand a means of escape. That was generally when the magistrate would show up for the following scene:

“Ha ha ha. Silly robbers, you should learn how to use those matchlocks before trying something like this. The safety’s still on.”

“Eh!? …Ah, you tricked us, you son of a bitch! Get him!”

Her parents would always seem satisfied and say things like “That magistrate tricks someone every time” or “That’s a pretty personal interpretation”. But in that case…

“Will you s-save…the hostage?”

“Eh? Oh, well, you aren’t guaranteed to be a hostage. But it could happen. Basically, we’re leaving an important person with Date as a safety to ensure we don’t become enemies. We’re saying we won’t attack them because we don’t want to lose you, Mukai.”

…''Eh?

“B-but…I’m not th-that important…”

'''Musashino:''' “Allow me to interrupt. In reference to our duties on the bridge, I would make the following ranking: Suzu-sama = Asama-sama > Adele-sama > Everyone Else > Neshinbara-sama > Chancellor. Over.”

'''Me:''' “Are those ‘>’ things arrows!? So the further you go, the better you are!?”

'''Musashino:''' “It is the exact opposite. Over.”

'''Me:''' “Did you have to answer that quickly!?”

'''Hori-ko:''' “Those at the bottom should take a lesson from Asama-sama and rethink their life.”

'''Asama:''' “But why me? I’ve barely ever been on the bridge.”

'''Musashino:''' “You are always a huge help with the divine transmissions. Without you, we would lose most of the Musashi’s divine transmission support, which would place a larger burden on us. When Suzu-sama is on the bridge, we can fulfill our maid roles as automatons and her sensory support reduces the burden on us. Adele-sama helps guide the ship. As for the others…

“●'''Neshinbara-sama: His pessimistic assumptions and forceful course instructions are quite dangerous.

“●'''Chancellor: In the way, lifts our skirts, nudist, sleeps, plays porn games on the bridge monitors, etc.

“Over.”

'''Asama:''' “Maybe that last person really should rethink his life.”

''I see,'' thought Asama as she realized how important everyone was. So…

“Um, Suzu-san? If you think going to the Date clan would be too difficult, I can go in your place.”

“Eh?”

Suzu looked her way and began clasping her hands in front of her chest. She may have been hesitating because the speed and complexity of her finger movements grew.

But…

“N-no. I-I’ll go. B-because…”

She continued moving her hands as she turned toward Masazumi.

“Are the Date people…b-bad people?”

It was Urquiaga, not Masazumi, that answered. He stood his tail up and seemed to be sitting on it.

“If you define ‘bad’ as a lack of elder sisters, then they are indeed bad people.”

“Urquiaga, just so you know, Date Chancellor Masamune is female and has a younger brother.”

“Then they are good people, Ambassador Mukai.”

…''It looks like he’s willing to go now, but is that a good thing?

Asama was mentally sweating, but Suzu had stopped moving her hands and she faced Masazumi once more.

“Then…n-nothing will happen…if I go, right?”

“Nothing should. After all, the Date clan becomes Matsudaira’s approved ruler of Oushuu. Causing trouble between the two academies now would be the same as throwing away their future.”

“A-are the…D-date people…good people?”

“Yes. If you remain true to yourself, I think they will all be good people.”

Asama said that with a smile and Suzu smiled back while squeezing her clasped hands.

“Okay… Th-then I’ll try my best…to do that.”

…''Oh?

Everyone sensed something in Suzu’s words there.

Suzu was speaking in the active voice.

It was possible she intended to continue like that as long as this continued. She was so intent on remaining true to herself, that she was straying from her usual self.

…''Not good, not good.

Kimi then tapped on Asama’s shoulder and Asama knew what that meant.

“Um, Suzu-san?”

Suzu looked up at her again as if asking what she wanted, so Asama and Kimi replied in unison while giving the girl a thumbs up.

“Yay! Let’s do our best.”

Suzu unclasped her hands and raised her own right thumb.

“Y-y-yay…”

She blushed and her voice faded away, but Masazumi spoke up to help.

“Um,” she began. “I will handle the negotiations over divine transmission. I will have Asama prepare a direct connection with Date, so I’ll make sure Mukai and Urquiaga can converse with everyone else in both audio and video. It will be through the sign frame, but your situation will be little different from sitting with us in the classroom.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Asama with her job in mind.

She then turned toward Kimi who was tapping her shoulder again. The other girl held her hand to the side of her mouth and spoke quietly.

“Hey, Asama.”

“What?”

“Aren’t you glad you have something to do? You don’t like being neglected, do you?”

“Um…do you have a point?”

She tried to speak forcefully to act as a warning, but Kimi narrowed her eyes and whispered from behind her raised hand.

“Crybaby.”

“Y-you’re calling me that again!?”

When had she seen? When had she noticed? Asama did not know, but of the others around her, only Toori gave her a thumbs up.

She blushed and opened a sign frame with a displeased look.

“Okay, I’ll be sending out the necessary settings, so everyone bring out your sign frames or handheld shrines!”

The spear resembled a long sword.

Muneshige held it atop the gravel. He tried swinging it once or twice in Sakai’s yard.

…''The weight balance is more like a nagamaki than a spear.

That was because the blade and shaft were of about equal length. The strength of his arms on the shaft would be directly placed on the blade. He briefly considered whether he should hold the top and bottom as with a spear or just the bottom as with a long sword.

“Now, then.”

When he spun it around as if catching at it with the fingers of his right hand, he found the balance was nice near the blade. That meant the shaft was heavy, so as he rapidly spun the spear, he passed his swinging hands to the front and back.

“——————”

Finally, he caught it in his spread right hand.

He held it near the front.

…''For now, I will use it like a spear.

Next, he judged whether to hold the blade to the side or upwards.

“Looks like I don’t have anything to teach you.”

Sakai spoke from the veranda while bending forward to rest his head in his hand. Muneshige looked back and held the blade out so he could see.

“The blade has been well maintained.”

“I had ‘Okutama’ look over it all beforehand. I used to have Sakakibara do it, but it’s been neglected since he was sent to Edo. It should be in perfect shape, though. …Oh, and any thanks should go to Tamako.”

While continuing to work through the black disks in the back, “Okutama” turned around and bowed toward Muneshige.

“Maintaining and fine-tuning equipment should go without saying. Over.”

“Wait,” said Sakai. “Was that an indirect way of scolding me?”

“Musashi” carried in enough tea for everyone.

“The problem is that you are aware of the problem yet do not fix it. Now, Sakai-sama, shouldn’t you tell him how to use Kamenuki? Over.”

“Probably, but I think it would be better if he figured it out himself. It’s better to find your own way to use something than to force yourself to use it the way someone else said to.”

“What do you mean?” asked Muneshige.

Sakai did not answer, but Muneshige did not press any further because he knew that was the kind of person Sakai was.

Meanwhile, Gin and “Asakusa” (in her new clothes) walked in from behind the house.

Gin held a few pieces of firewood in her large false arms. They had yet to be chopped.

“Master Muneshige. Use these to test it.”

She gently threw one high in the air toward him.

Gin threw the firewood toward Muneshige and his spear, and she watched the immediate result.

…''I would expect nothing less.

The spear stabbed through the firewood. The meter long blade had stabbed halfway into the wood. The blade was thick, so the wood swelled out after being pierced.

“That will slice it in two.”

Muneshige said that with a bitter smile just as the firewood did indeed split in two.

However, something bothered Gin. That result was to be expected, but…

“Master Muneshige.”

“You noticed too, Gin?”

She had not, but he held his left palm up to eye level, asking her to throw another one.

She nodded and recalled the past. Back when he had still been training at the Tachibana house, he had gone through training much like this.

Her father had said it was to teach him how to deal with a midair enemy and then asked her to “throw one my way”. She had made a full-power overhand throw on the same level as the Valdés brother’s pitches, and she had aimed at the face. Her father had been mad at her, but she had not found it fair for him to be so angry after he successfully sliced it in two. Muneshige had then told her to use a gentle underhand throw and she had done so.

…''I may have already been treating him kindly even then.

“Gin, you can use an overhand throw if you want.”

''You intend to outdo my father!? I would expect no less, Master Muneshige.

Delighted, she did as he said. He spread his hands further apart on the shaft and swung the spear vertically.

“…”

With a solid sound, the airborne firewood was sliced apart and the two halves flew to the left and right.

He had split the wood. He had done so by swinging the long blade down into place, but Gin noticed something.

“It did not cut as sharply this time.”

It was different from before.

The first piece of firewood had been pierced noiselessly. It had pierced the wood so sharply that the fibrous structure had not had time to tear.

But this was different. The force of the blade’s collision had split the wood, so it had made a noise and the halves had flown in either direction. If it had cut as sharply as the first time, there would have been no noise and the halves would not have flown away. It was the same blade, so what had caused the difference?

…''What is this?

“Gin, can you throw one pretty high up?”

“Judge.”

He was testing rather than questioning, so she made an overhand throw like she used to.

…''I used to be able to make a hundred meter long throw.

She threw it along an arc that would pass high above his head and he turned his back to her.

“Is this how it works?”

He used the spear to pierce the firewood as it passed over his head and flew into the distance.

Muneshige grasped what had happened through the tactile feedback before anything else.

…''Would you call this “assistance”?

He faced Gin again and held up the spear. The firewood was skewered about halfway down the long blade.

“That was the same piercing power as the first time.”

As he held it up, the wood split and fell apart. Gin was the first to comment on this third result.

“Does it accelerate when piercing something? Is that how it felt?”

“Judge,” he replied because that was indeed how it had felt. “When you take aim and make the thrust, it moves forward. The first time, my actions were a little delayed, but it may have adjusted its movements to match me. So this third time was the spear’s true power. After all…”

“You were ‘chasing after’ the wood, yet it pierced it just as well as the first time.”

“That’s right. I think the piercing assistance was fine-tuned from the beginning.”

Stabbing deep into the wood when it was thrown toward him was hardly a surprise.

But this third time, he had been stabbing at it after it passed over his head. The wood was light, so his strike should have simply knocked it away from him. And even if he had pierced it…

“The blade would not have stabbed halfway in as it did the first time.”

“Couldn’t you do it, Master Muneshige?”

“I was not trying to this time. In fact, I was trying to see what happened when I didn’t.”

But the result had been even greater than he had expected.

…''And when it stabbed in, I felt like all resistance vanished.

He looked to Sakai and held Kamenuki up toward the man who was bending forward and resting his head in his hand.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Sure, What is it, Muneshige-kun?”

“Judge. Is there anything I should yell when activating it?”

“Do you like that kind of thing? Don’t you find it embarrassing?”

“I am used to it after yelling ‘amore’ for Gin.”

“Master Muneshige, please let mine be something special.”

“Fair enough,” he replied with a smile.

He looked to Sakai who got up.

“It isn’t anything that amazing. But, Muneshige-kun, what kind of power do you think Kamenuki has?”

“Limited assistance for piercing attacks. Would that be accurate?”

“Not quite,” replied Sakai.

…''Not quite?

If he had been completely wrong, he could have changed his way of thinking about it. But a slight difference was trickier. However, Sakai did not give the actual answer.

“How about you, well, try it out some more? It can be tricky to use, but once you get the hang of it, I think you’ll use it better than I ever did.”

So…

“This may be selfish, but I’m hoping you’ll make this fun. Yes.”

A bell rang just as Sakai finished speaking.

It was the hourly bell of Musashi Ariadust Academy and it rang eight times.

“Now, this would normally be when classes start, but I’m sure everyone will be preparing for their diplomatic jobs today. It must be tough having so much work to do.”

“Yes.” Muneshige nodded and adjusted his grip on the spear in his hands. “I think I will put a little more effort into this.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 16

2016-03-18T11:37:12Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 16: Fabricator at the Site of Collapse */

==Chapter 16: Fabricator at the Site of Collapse==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0373.jpg|thumb]]
''What method is used

''To create a mentality

''That assumes there’s something there?

'''Point Allocation (Lies)

At the scene of the collapse, Asama and the others viewed the information from her father while the workers and gods of war audibly operated around them.

…''Futayo was attacked?

The answer to her question was displayed on the sign frame before her eyes.

“What is this?”

It was the message board from the PR Committee’s divine website. One of the threads created by a reader contained an image supposedly taken from a stationary security camera.

It showed someone falling backwards from one of Tama’s thick rope passageways.

It was from just a few minutes earlier. Since it was night, the image was dark and the colors were hard to make out.

However, the falling figure had a ponytail on their head and a spear in their right hand. There were also some posts from witnesses saying they had seen Futayo walking around there.

The area below was a nature district that contained a waterway. The posts were wondering if an emergency search was necessary.

A thought came to Asama’s mind as she watched the thread.

…''I wonder.

She tried asking her question.

'''Asama:''' “Um, why does it say she was attacked?”

'''Marube-ya:''' “If you remember doing it, confess right this instant!!”

'''Righteousness:''' “It would be a miracle if someone actually raised their hand after that.”

''Yes, but you can never underestimate Musashi because sometimes those miracles happen. Yoshy’s still a novice.

'''10ZO:''' “The person who uploaded the image suspected that she had been shot. That is an easy theory to latch onto during discussions, so it’s being treated as the truth now.”

'''Tachibana Wife:''' “How arrogant of them. Besides, the way she’s being knocked away could not have been done with a gunshot. She was hit with a much larger surface.”

Asama was impressed by that analysis, but that also meant the individual in the image really had been attacked. And…

'''Vice President:''' “Hold on. I’m going to try contacting Futayo. We might be getting worked up over nothing.”

'''Asama:''' “Yes, please do. With Neshinbara-kun squished flat, we would be in trouble if something happened to Futayo too.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “You can say some amazing things sometimes… But in all seriousness, this could affect Futayo’s reputation as well as the Chancellor’s Officers’. For some information warfare, I’m going to send out a dummy image to confuse the situation.”

Asama saw Naruze sit down on a hemp rope cable passing by overhead.

She opened a crop mark frame Magie Figur and Naito sat next to her to help.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “I’ll prepare the image using the existing one, so Asama, you tell your father I want to use the Asama Shrine’s divine transmission authority to untraceably upload it.”

'''Asama:''' “Why do I feel like our shrine is turning into one of the shadiest ones in history?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “What’s wrong with that? It’s convenient for me. …Anyway, is there anyone around here I can use as a model? Ohiroshiki? Yes, you’ll do perfectly.”

From her elevated position, Naruze spoke to Ohiroshiki as he walked over.

“Hey, Ohiroshiki. Were you released from the guard station? That’s perfect, so stand right there. Judge. Now look up a little, bend backwards, and… What, you can’t bend backwards? And you call yourself a living creature?”

“Th-this black-winged hag is being mean! And you weren’t a hag ten years ago!”

“Shut up. If it were ten years ago, I would have fried you to cinders for that.”

She stopped the hand holding her pen and closed the Magie Figur.

The image was complete, so she sent it to Asama.

“That should do nicely. Ohiroshiki, aren’t you glad even you could contribute a little to the Student Council’s work?”

“I’m not sure what just happened, but I have a very bad feeling about it…”

Asama looked at the image Naruze had sent her.

It showed the rope passageway crossing the open area in Tama, and…

'''Asama:''' “Wow. Futayo is performing a backdrop throw on Ohiroshiki-kun.”

'''Vice President:''' “Eh? Isn’t this that other image…? Ehhh!?”

''Mal-Ga:'' “Image modifications are a standard skill. Even in the history recreations, the frescoes and paintings in cathedrals are being redrawn. …Of course, it might have been better to have Ohiroshiki falling a little more head-first. For a pedophile, you’re awful at leaning back.”

'''Worshipper:''' “Um, are pedophiles known for leaning back?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Heh. Well, you certainly aren’t.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “You’re having a lot of surprisingly manly moments lately, Ga-chan!!”

''They never change, do they?'' thought Asama, but she did get what Naruze was doing. She wanted to spread that image on the divine network to drown out the rumors of Futayo being injured.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Neshinbara would probably go at it with his own posts, but this is where my skills lie. I’ll send you a few different versions, so send those out too.”

'''10ZO:''' “Thank you very much. I’m only any good at the gathering and analysis side.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Then go ‘gather’ me a drink. I’ll take Mogami peach nectar.”

As Masazumi operated a sign frame, she gestured for Tenzou to get going and the ninja immediately vanished. Meanwhile, Asama sent Naruze’s request to her father.

'''Asama Dad:''' “I’ll do it! Your dad will do his very best! Being young sure is great!”

''Fine, dad, but do you really have to choose a name based on your relationship to me?

“Oh, it’s already started…”

'''Asama Dad:''' “I did it! Your dad did his very best! Maybe I’m young too!”

Everyone glared at Asama as she sent a random response back to her father. She made sure to at least thank him and tell him to get to bed early.

But during all this behind-the-scenes work, the two underclassmen connected to the Student Council were left tilting their heads.

Suddenly, the automaton named Kanou moved.

“Milady.”

She tapped on the glasses-wearing Ookubo’s shoulder and showed her a sign frame.

Ookubo’s expression changed. First her eyebrows rose in surprise and then they wrinkled in doubt.

Most likely, it was the same information the others were seeing. Based on her expressions, she was surprised and then doubtful that Futayo was injured. But…

…''?

''Huh?'' thought Asama.

…''Something seems off about that girl. But what?

Asama was unsure what her question was even directed at, but she knew something about that obvious reaction was not quite right. For some reason, it did not seem appropriate.

…''I wonder why not.

Asama decided to keep it in a corner of her mind and then Ookubo turned to face her. The girl inhaled and spoke as if she had made up her mind about something.

“Um, I just received word that the Vice Chancellor is in trouble…”

“Yes, she apparently threw Ohiroshiki-kun into the abyss with a backdrop. That’s honestly pretty normal for us. …Although it is unusual for Futayo to do it herself.”

When Asama responded with a smile, Ookubo’s eyebrows rose and she stared straight at Asama.

“This is no time for jokes!”

“But, Ookubo, that’s exactly the information I have right here. …Is there some kind of problem with that?”

Masazumi quickly showed Ookubo a sign frame displaying the data Asama’s father had uploaded. When Ookubo saw it, her eyebrows rose again and finally…

“I could have sworn I saw the victim walking through here just a moment ago…”

She lowered her shoulders in a sigh. She had likely decided it was no use arguing.

And when Asama saw that…

…''Yes.

There was nothing off about that.

Then what had seemed off before?

But before she could answer her question, a report came in from Tenzou. And it was not to tell him he had bought the drink.

'''10ZO:''' “Masazumi-dono, I have moved an appropriate distance from the scene and have detected no one in pursuit.”

…''I see.

They wanted to check on the scene to find out what had happened to Futayo, but there might be an attacker. That was why they had sent Tenzou out on the pretext of buying a drink.

'''10ZO:''' “What should I do? If Futayo-dono did fall, I can predict fairly accurately where. Should I hurry there?”

'''Vice President:''' “No, that won’t be necessary. Go to the Blue Thunder. Not the main one, but the one I often collapse in front of due to hunger.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Couldn’t you just call it the one Horizon works at?”

Masazumi waved a dismissive hand even though Mitotsudaira was not there and then she faced Ookubo. Her expression was perfectly normal except for her slightly raised eyebrows.

“About the Vice Chancellor, Ookubo.”

“Judge. Is she okay?”

“Well.” Masazumi tilted her head. “More than okay, she hasn’t even left the Blue Thunder.”

Masazumi spoke to Asama and Naruze who looked confused.

'''Vice President:''' “Yes, I just received a divine mail from the manager, who apparently noticed the commotion on the divine network. Futayo hasn’t noticed, though, because she’s been sleeping in her seat.”

'''10ZO:''' “Huh? Then my trip to the Blue Thunder is for nothing?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “What a worthless ninja.”

'''10ZO:''' “And who was it that told me to go there!? Who was it!?”

'''Vice President:''' “I don’t mind, so stop by there anyway. The manager is sending me some live footage, but if the 1st Special Duty Officer confirms it, no one will doubt it. To be honest, checking in person is most effective for this kind of thing.”

After Crossunite sent back a “judge”, Masazumi took a breath.

…''All sorts of weird things are happening tonight.

She then noticed the two underclassmen looking her way, so she opened a sign frame.

Tsukinowa pushed it forward with his front legs to show Ookubo the footage of Futayo sleeping in her seat at the Blue Thunder.

“This is a live video. …According to the Blue Thunder’s manager, she fell asleep after eating a light meal. I’ve requested that the manager ask her whether she will meet up with us or-…”

Just as she was about to say “not”, the Tachibana Husband shouted down as he instructed the surrounding gods of war what materials to move. His eyebrows rose as he looked at the armor panel Gin had picked up to carry.

“Gin! Please check that armor panel!”

He jumped down and shouted Masazumi’s way.

“I’ve found what we were looking for!”

Futayo felt her body collapsing from exhaustion.

…''Nh!

She could tell she had been sleeping. She had clearly been careless, but when she opened her eyes…

“…Nh?”

The scenery around her and her position were not what she had expected. The last thing she remembered was being attacked on the rope passageway and being knocked into the air, but now she was in…

…''The Blue Thunder?

“Oh, are you awake, Futayo-chan?”

“Eh?”

She turned toward the voice on her right and found the manager. ''She does somewhat resemble Kimi-dono,'' she thought. ''I don’t know about the nudist, though.

At any rate…

…''Huh?

Something was not right. She knew she had left here and started toward Musashino, but then she had been attacked and…

“Shot…”

She had been hit by sniper fire on her left side. She remembered the paper bag acting as a shield, but the impact had still reached her side. She used her fingernails to open her inner suit’s stomach joint and peered in at her left side.

But…

…''There’s nothing there?

Not only did she not have a wound, she did not even have a bruise. The manager smiled bitterly next to her.

“Is your back hurting you after hitting it during training? I did use this on you while you were sleeping, but maybe it wasn’t enough.”

The manager held up a Shinto healing spell charm. It helped improve blood flow and Futayo could feel her exhaustion leaving her.

“I was asleep?”

“You must have been done in by the aroma from this.”

The manager placed a bamboo bottle in front of her. It gave off the aroma of cocoa.

“It got cold while you were asleep, so I got you some more.”

She lightly tapped the bamboo bottle and a strong smell of roasted sweetness wafted out.

“…Thank you very much.”

There was also some wrapped bread on the table. Futayo felt a little stiff, but that may have been from sleeping in the chair. Sleeping here would get in the way of business, so she decided she needed to leave.

Then the manager spoke with a smile.

“Masazumi-san sent a divine mail earlier asking if you were here. I said you were asleep, but what do you want to do? They’re all on Musahino’s stern apparently.”

''What should I do?'' she wondered for a moment.

“I was thinking of taking action on a different issue tomorrow, so I think I will only stop by briefly so I can get home early to sleep. If I joined the others for long, I would get dragged into staying up all night.”

“Oh, dear. Those children are quite the delinquents. …So what is this ‘different issue’?”

“Finding a teacher.”

''If that incident on the rope passageway was a dream, then it must have been a sort of revelation,'' she thought. ''My mind was admonishing me for my previous loss and for allowing Tonbokiri to be damaged.

She knew she had to fire herself up again, so…

“I am thinking of learning to be a brand new person.”

“Very good. That’s what it means to be a samurai. My husband was originally a student who left Satomi to train in IZUMO. When traveling around the Far East, we even walked around down below here.”

The Manager put her hand on her hip and smiled, so Futayo nodded.

“I think I will try working harder too.”

Futayo realized that the idea of finding a teacher had really worked its way into her heart.

That dream seemed to have been meaningful. She understood without being told that she was lacking something and that she was inexperienced. But…

…''I have not reached the level where that understanding feels like a good thing.

Still, she had something to do. She still had something she could do, something she thought she should do, and something that would change things if she did it.

She was not entirely sure what exactly it would change. It could be her abilities, her equipment, her relationships, or even just her feelings.

“That’s right.”

She nodded to confirm that to herself and then she looked up at the manager.

“I will begin searching for a teacher early tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, dear. Then you had better get home to sleep before long. And if you keep up that-…huh?”

A sign frame appeared next to the manager. It displayed Masazumi.

“What is it, Masazumi-san?”

“Eh? Oh, is Futayo there?”

“Hm?” said Futayo. “I was planning to get home early so I could get plenty of sleep.”

“Eh? Then at least listen to what I have to say. …We found Neshinbara and he definitely was caught in the materials collapse. For the time being, we’re carrying him to the Aoi home - that’s your home, manager – since we’re all gathering there anyway. Futayo, Crossunite is on his way to meet you and confirm you’re alive. After that, please stop by if you have the time.”

After all…

“You’ll probably get to see a strange Neshinbara.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 15|Chapter 15]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 17|Chapter 17]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 6

2016-03-12T05:32:52Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 6: Revealed Ones at a Place of Passage */ typos

==Chapter 6: Revealed Ones at a Place of Passage==
[[File:Horizon_Kimi1B_085.jpg|thumb]]
''What in the world

''Are you doing?

'''Point Allocation (Over)

In Kimi’s mind, ''it'' had begun from the moment they left the academy.

In Shinto, all things had a “staring point”, so to set up that starting point appropriately, she stopped at the top of the bridge in front of the school building. Mitotsudaira responded in kind, but Asama had her eyes focused straight ahead and started on without the other two.

“Wait ,wait. Hold it, Asama. Heh heh. Why are you in such a rush? We aren’t going to run away, you know?”

“Eh!? Oh, r-right.”

Asama looked back, blushed for no reason, and (for once) had difficulty speaking.

She was nervous.

She was supposedly used to being the center of attention thanks to the Shinto rituals she performed on a regular basis, but here she was tense and nearly flustered.

…''This is a valuable scene.

Kimi felt the date was already paying off, but there was still plenty to go. ''Maybe I should tease her a little,'' she decided while beckoning Asama over.

Asama dashed back to her, and…

“C-c’mon! Let’s hurry on to Oume!”

“Takao.”

“Oh, r-right! To Takao! Takao is where Tengu live, so they specialize in Tengu masks! They have a mascot squadron called Takao Sentai Tengumen that wear Tengu masks on their faces and crotches and lately they’ve been running around to protect the ship at night!”

“You need to bow down to Takao right this instant.”

That said, Kimi understood why Asama was nervously rambling with her cheeks flushed.

The girl did not understand what a date was.

She wanted to make sure the other girls did not grow tired of her or feel disappointed in her, so she was desperately trying to fill the silence and show them as much as possible.

It may have been a common trap that beginners fell into.

…''My foolish brother is a lot easier to deal with on that front.

After all, he would start by doing this:

“Hey.”

Kimi grabbed Asama’s hand.

She held it tight.

Asama’s arms and shoulders jumped.

“Eh? Um, Kimi!?”

“Why are you so jumpy? This is a date, so we need to hold hands, don’t we? C’mon, you take the other one, Mitotsudaira.”

“Y-yes, th-that would be for the best.”

Kimi was on the right and Mitotsudaira on the left.

With two different people holding her hands, Asama could not rush on ahead no matter how impatient she was. But just to be sure…

“Heh heh. I think I’ll make myself feel more at home.”

Kimi embraced Asama’s arm.

Asama was just a little taller than her, so she could rest her cheek on Asama’s shoulder when pressing against her like this. She tried it out.

…''Oh, this is even better than I thought.

Asama supported her, perhaps because she had been trained by her Shinto dances and archery. Her arm was softer than Kimi’s brother’s, and…

“Asama…”

“Wh-what?”

“No gaining or losing any weight, okay? I can’t let you lose this elasticity. I want it all to myself, so don’t let any other than us and my foolish brother do this.”

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. And besides, I’m a shrine maiden.”

“True. A matchmaker shrine maiden like you really would have a divine protection preventing anyone from touching you if they aren’t close to you, so we wouldn’t be able to do this if your heart wasn’t letting us.”

Kimi’s Ootsubaki Uzume divine protection would not allow anyone who interrupted her dance to touch her, but Asama’s Asama Sakuya variety protected her based on romance.

In other words…

“I can only embrace your arm and grope your breasts because of the romance between us.”

“That is not why. Familial love and friendship also counts.” Instead of removing Kimi, Asama just let her shoulders fall. “But with the Apocalypse approaching, there really have been more mysterious phenomena lately. As the Asama Shrine’s #2, I do have a lot of defenses like that in place.”

“Will Mitotsudaira’s Troiko be okay?”

“My Troiko?”

Mitotsudaira tilted her head. Kimi replied when she saw the Cerberus on her head do the same.

“Since it has three heads, I was thinking of calling it Threeko, but since it’s ‘trois’ in French, I decided on Troiko.”

“Troiko? C-could you not give it weird names without even asking!?”

Mitotsudaira protested.

The Cerberus had followed a knight like her, so she did not like naming it like a dog.

…''But Kimi loves that kind of thing.

She gave off a mature aura, but she did not hesitate to express her love for cute things. Suzu was often the victim there, but according to Naomasa, “kiddy” things were about enjoying childish things rather than being a child oneself.

…''She’s completely indiscriminate there.

This was the same. At this rate, the Cerberus would sound like it was named after the “toro” used in sushi. Naming it after food was fine, but a three-headed wolf was not seafood. In order to protest, Mitotsudaira looked past Asama to Kimi.

“Um.”

But Asama’s obstacles blocked her view.

…''Eh!? What is this!?

She knew what they were called. When holding Asama’s hand, she had been able to see the other side. When she raised her head, her vision moved above the obstacles and Asama turned to face her.

“What’s the matter, Mito?”

Mitotsudaira looked down.

She could see the top of the obstacles down below.

…''There’s no way she can see her feet.

Looking down would not be enough.

What did she do when cutting her toenails or washing herself? It had to negatively affect her accuracy. They would also get in the way when wielding a weapon.

…''Oh, so that’s why she uses the bow. And since it uses a spell bowstring, her body doesn’t get in the way.

To repeat her thoughts from that morning, those things had to be inconvenient and they had to reduce her options in quite a few areas of life. Saying giant breasts were a hindrance in daily life might sound lewd, but that girl had to be putting in a lot of effort that no one ever noticed.

“Mito?”

This was her friend, so Mitotsudaira decided not to say anything.

Instead, she placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and made eye contact.

“…”

After giving her a look of understanding rather than sympathy, she looked to Kimi.

“Now, then.”

“W-wait, Mito!? What was that just now!?”

Putting it in words would reflexively do damage to Mitotsudaira herself, so she refrained from answering.

“Can I say something, Kimi?”

“Heh heh. What is it? Tell me. If you wish to praise me, you don’t need my permission. You need to be more honest. But I’m willing to listen for two whole seconds! Now, go for it, Mitotsudaira! C’mon! C’moooon! Hurry, hurry!! Still nothing!? I’m here! Right here!! Can’t you see me!? C’mon! Take a good look!!”

“Why do you have to go on and on like that?”

“And what am I supposed to do when I’m stuck between you two?”

After Mitotsudaira and Kimi placated Asama, Mitotsudaira looked back to Kimi.

“My Cerberus is supposed to be serving a knight, so I can’t let you give it a dog’s name!”

“C’mere, Troiko.”

Kimi called out to it and all three heads barked.

“Eh?” said Mitotsudaira as she tried to look up above her head.

“It said Troiko is fine.”

The Cerberus barked again at the name.

…''W-wait! Um…!

The image in Mitotsudaira’s mind had the Cerberus briskly leading the way with its tail raised, but…

“Are you trying to make it do nothing but eat and sleep all day long!?”

“Don’t let the name influence your mental image that much.”

Kimi glared at her and she decided that might be right, but she still did not like the sound of that name.

“But, um, Troiko?”

The Cerberus must have thought she was calling its name because it barked.

After a pause…

“Can’t we give it a cooler name?”

“Troi-Man.”

“Something a little more manly.”

“Troi-Erection.”

That certainly made the Cerberus sound frightening, but Mitotsudaira was not about to be saying “erection” on a daily basis. And Asama would have a hard time with all the meters filling up. So…

“You aren’t thinking very much before you speak, are you!? You aren’t, are you!?”

“Then as a compromise between Troi-Man and Troi-Erection, we’ll go with Troiko.”

“That is not a compromise!!”

But the Cerberus barked again.

“I see.” Asama nodded and looked to Mitotsudaira.

“Um, Mito. I think we should respect what the Cerberus itself wants…”

“B-but what if it grows up to be toroi?<ref>Toroi means “slow” especially in respect to intelligence.</ref> A Cerberus deserves a cooler name…”

The person who happened to be walking by reflexively struck a pose as he faced them. It was Neshinbara. He pushed up his glasses and held a hand in front of his face.

“How about something with lots of voiced consonants like Baldogoria or Darigadregga!? Those sound strong, don’t they!?”

The Cerberus did not react.

“Yes.” Mitotsudaira nodded. “But don’t you have something a little more natural?”

“Then how about Unzen Fugen-Dake!?”

The Cerberus still did not react and Mitotsudaira sighed, but Neshinbara looked to the Cerberus on her head.

“Since Asama-kun isn’t purifying it, are you treating it like a type of local god or spirit?”

“Yes.” Asama nodded. “I think it was made by a ‘mold’ from the Kojima Peninsula. From what I can tell, it has mostly pure ether, so there’s no need to actively purify it away to nothingness.”

Mitotsudaira could sense the Cerberus bristling its fur after sensing danger in those words. She held up its back end to make sure it did not fall off her head.

“Is there some kind of problem if it’s a local god?”

“There are certain situations in which local gods make an appearance.”

Neshinbara summoned his Mouse named Michizane and opened a sign frame. It displayed a page from a local god thread on Musashi’s divine network.

“Most of the time, it’s to visit a festival, but there are other situations typical of local gods.”

“Such as?”

“To protect or greet someone, whether a local or a visitor. They’ll always appear when a visitor is lost or a higher god has arrived.”

This had nothing to do with higher gods, but the Musashi itself was a giant visitor. However…

“What about the Musashi is it here to help?”

“That I can’t tell you. But based on the standard situations for local gods, that Cerberus must be here to help with something or tell us something. So…”

So…

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but this land’s local gods must have taken a liking to it. They sensed the premonition and created this physical form to bless you with some lively cheer.”

Neshinbara jotted down a description of the Cerberus’s appearance and turned his back.

“I still think a name with plenty of voiced consonants would be good.”

“Yes.” Kimi nodded. “That pretty much settles it for Troiko then.”

“No, it does not!!” shouted Mitotsudaira.

However, the Cerberus barked. Mitotsudaira snatched it from her head and held it in front of her eyes with her eyebrows raised.

“You’re okay with that!?”

“…!”

Three simultaneous barks clinched it, so she fell to her knees. But…

“Is Troiko safe with the divine protections you always have active, Asama?” asked Kimi.

While listening to Kimi’s question, Asama looked down at Mitotsudaira who had fallen to her knees. The Cerberus was looking up at her.

“My defenses will accept a local god mold. Unless we try to harm each other or clash in some other way, it should be fine.”

“Then Troiko is one of us for the time being.”

Kimi laughed and placed her chin on Asama’s right breast. Saying “stop that” and glaring at her did nothing to stop her. She embraced Asama’s right arm again and tilted her head to look at Mitotsudaira.

“Troiko.”

“!”

“You seem to like Mitotsudaira, so if she comes up with a good name, you go with that, okay?”

“…!”

The Cerberus replied and Mitotsudaira looked up in confusion.

She quickly picked the Cerberus up from the ground.

“That bark. Kimi, can you speak with this thing!?”

“Speaking with animals is a fairly basic technique for Shinto shrine maidens, you know? Of course, mutual understanding is a high-level technique, so all I can do is convey some slight nuance and grasp its answer like I’m hearing things.”

“Yes,” agreed Asama.

In Shinto mythology, every god could converse with wild animals and fish. Transforming into birds or turning into a fish was a very Shinto thing.

In Europe, that sort of nature worship had been crushed by the spread of Tsirhc.

…''But in Shinto, everything is equal before the gods.

So…

“Mito, if you sign a contract as a shrine maiden, you too can learn and level up in that kind of skill.”

“Shrine maidens talk about levelling up? Also…”

Mitotsudaira wiped off the Cerberus’s feet with a handkerchief before placing it back on her head.

“I converted to Shinto in middle school, but signing a shrine maiden contract would hinder me in battle. Shrine maidens generally aren’t allowed to proactively start a fight.”

It did not particularly matter whether she would actually have many options to fight on the Musashi.

She was a Rank 1 Knight and her provisional inherited name placed her second in line to ruling the Far East. Given her position, she had to be prepared for an emergency. But when she looked up toward the Cerberus on her head…

“Working part-time as a shrine maiden would make for a nice change of pace and I could buy a spell for conversing with small animals as payment, right?”

“Yes. That is a standard Shinto spell, so if it’s as payment for shrine maiden work, you can have the god give it to you or have it applied to you by a mid-level or higher shrine maiden like me.”

“Applied to me?”

Asama nodded.

“You can rent the power from the god for a few days or some other limited period of time. You bow at the shrine when you do part-time shrine maiden work, right? That’s when the god applies a shrine maiden’s authority for the period of your work shift. Similarly, you could get the ability to converse with small animals for as long as the Cerberus is with you.”

“I see…”

“Will you be working again today?”

“Eh?”

Mitotsudaira was caught off guard and she thought for a moment. After a while, she opened a sign frame and checked her schedule.

“Would tonight be okay?”

“Yes. Asakusa’s ley lines need tuning, so we’ll do that. Really, it’s just checking over them since everyone’s rehearsing for the Gagaku Festival there.” Asama held a hand out to Mitotsudaira. “I’ll mark you down for that shift. For now, um…”

“Our date!!”

Still clinging to Asama’s right arm, Kimi shook her body and shouted the words. Asama responded by grabbing Mitotsudaira’s outstretched hand.

She already knew where their first stop was.

“There’s a Buddhist power spot in Takao’s nature district that’s gotten popular lately.”

A female voice sounded below the white sky.

“Okay, we’ve finished our warmup exercises, so let’s get started. Musashi Student Vassal Unit, use this basic training to show me what you’ve learned over the past two weeks.”

The voice belonged to a black-haired girl with an assault spear on her back. On her left arm, she wore a blue armband with “Vice President Ookubo Tadayo” written in white.

Her voice filled a wide open place: the second schoolyard below Musashi Ariadust Academy.

It was located at the bottom of the long stairway extending from the academy. It and the third schoolyard located further below were used as training grounds for the sports teams, the Chancellor’s Officers, and other groups.

Currently, the second schoolyard’s port side was in use.

“Student vassal unit, create a defensive formation with your mobile shells! Then advance and withdraw!”

She opened a scoring sheet sign frame for the student vassals and blew the whistle hanging from her neck.

“—————!”

The sound was not particularly high pitched, but it traveled a good distance and set several objects and people in motion.

The objects were two giant oblong defense barriers that came to life in the center of the second schoolyard. The people were the vassal unit that placed their few mobile shells out front.

There were more than twenty vassals. A few – mostly third years – had mobile shells, but the others were equipped with training armor. Except for one.

“Balfette! You’re in the second year, so why do you only have a track suit!?”

“I don’t have any money! None at all! Will you give me some, Tadayo-san!?”

“Not a single yen!!”

“Hooray! I got permission to use my track suit!”

''Do they both have to be so blunt?'' wondered the others as they watched the second year vassal holding a lance in her track suit. But…

“Huh?”

The short track suit girl had been running in front of them before, but she was gone.

She was much further forward.

She was not taking especially long strides. The speed came from the timing of her steps. Still, those running legs brought her forward in the navy blue track suit known as Musashi Blue. She ran toward the two defense barriers standing in the second courtyard.

“Judge! Second Year Adele Balfette! I’m up first!”

With a muttered “oops” or “dammit”, the third years started running too. They were assisted by their mobile shells, but they could not match her initial speed.

The mobile shells started catching up by the third step, but the track suit girl had too much of a lead.

“…!”

Adele charged toward the oblong glowing torii on the right. She judged the number of remaining steps by eye and held her lance forward.

Just as she was going to hit, Tadayo spoke up with her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

“Ha ha. You need to be a little faster than that.”

The defense barrier moved. The one Adele was aiming for moved up and a little forward.

“Huhhh!?”

It dodged her attack as if jumping over her.

“Musashi” watched the scene from the large landing halfway up the stairs leading to the academy.

The two defense barriers she controlled were moving. She looked port while moving a barrier forward in a mountain-like trajectory over the charging vassal.

“I modeled that movement on the walking of a heavy god of war.”

Adele flew off her feet below the barrier representing the left leg.

She had not been hit by any kind of attack. She had simply self-destructed.

After running so quickly, the short vassal had tried to rotate her entire body to attack, but she had not made it in time.

…''It looked like her momentum knocked her from her feet, but…

A closer look showed something else.

Even if she was light, tripping like that was odd. A look at her chest was enough to know how light she was, but she was holding that lance.

So…

“Did she throw herself into a dive to avoid hitting the ground while still lowering her speed? Over.”

Based on “Musashi’s” memories, the motion was similar to the one a ninja made just before hitting the ground after jumping from an elevated location. The ninja would be spreading out their clothing to increase air resistance, so the vassal’s flailing limbs may have been playing a similar role.

…''That vassal belongs to Class 2-Plum and I believe a ninja of equal speed belongs to that same class.

Had she received some advice from that ninja?

…''If so…

The students of Class 2-Plum were doing more than studying on their own and training with the organizations or groups they belonged to. They were also giving each other instructions.

Once she started thinking about it, “Musashi” realized the vassal was not the only one.

The same could be said of the Asama Shrine’s heir, the Aoi siblings who had become much more troublesome of late, the ninja who she had recalled a moment before, and the merchant duo who were beginning to make a name for themselves within Musashi’s Commerce and Industry Guild.

“Could it be…all of them? Over.”

“Musashi” would occasionally look around within Musashi Ariadust Academy, so she replayed her memories of Class Plum from then.

…''Is this…?

Statistically speaking, the students of Class Plum were constantly exchanging opinions on their techniques and qualifications or giving each other practical advice. It went beyond Oriotorai’s mock battles. They were doing it after school as well. The vassal who was rolling a little to stop her fall had gone running with Rank 1 Knight Mitotsudaira and some others that very morning.

In that case, was Class Plum as a whole exchanging advice and making up for each other’s weaknesses and problems? But…

“Why would they be doing that? Over.”

That question remained.

“Musashi” asked herself why the students of Class 2-Plum were performing their self-training as a group.

Doing so individually made sense. As students, they had to prepare for their future and they might find themselves unable to keep up with others.

People almost always trained as individuals when working toward and settling into a career. They might use school to undergo specialized training and lessons toward that end, but there was no reason to make up for each other’s deficiencies as that class was.

Looking at it that way led “Musashi” to a certain idea.

…''Are they trying to accomplish something as a whole rather than as individuals?

That was not all that strange when looking at the world as a whole.

The academies of the world’s nations used their Student Council, Chancellor’s Officers, or the academy as a whole to manage their politics and combat.

It was said “if you are not a student, you are not a person” because students ruled the nation, but that was only true of the nations that held provisional rule over the Far East.

Things were different from the Far East’s point of view.

After all, the Far East was at peace.

With the Logismoi Oplo distributed to the Testament Union nations by Mikawa and the approaching Apocalypse, there were problems, but wars were governed by the rules of the history recreation and the Musashi was a noncombatant ship. It could avoid a course that took it through a battlefield and no one would complain as long as it obeyed the rules of the provisional rule.

That allowed the people of Musashi to live peaceful lives.

None of them would think of combat or fighting as the whole of life.

The vassal unit’s combat training down below was on a much smaller scale than comparable training in other nations.

With the Chancellor’s Officers, knights, samurai, and ninja, there were some that trained in the fundamentals of various combat styles, but it generally ended at that.

Not very many would go beyond the fundamentals and learn the techniques needed to survive and achieve victory on the battlefield.

After all…

…''I have determined that is due to the provisional rule.

All of the ruling nations wished to benefit from the Far East, so they could not afford to lose the Far East. That allowed the Far East to maintain its peace while running errands and acting as a bank for the other nations.

And thus no one in Musashi specialized in combat outside of the knights and the Chancellor’s Officers.

Even if they did undergo combat training, it was only useful to put down on a resume when entering Far Eastern society.

The title of “vassal” was no more than that to the vassals working so hard down below. Their effort would not make them knights. So…

“They only need to do ‘good enough’. Over.”

The vassal that had self-destructed at full speed hopped back to her feet in order to pursue the defense barrier that “Musashi” was moving. She raised her lance overhead with both hands, and…

“Here I go!”

“Hurry it up!!”

The student vassal unit – including the third years – was accepting of her grandstanding.

She stood out for doing more than “good enough”.

Did the other vassals understand her stance?

Combat was unnecessary in the Far East and on the Musashi. Their peaceful days would continue.

“We are doing our best to ensure that. Over.”

But as if to ignore all that work, some of them were training and helping each other improve.

“Musashi” had not been around them enough to know why they were doing so.

It was possible Sakai had realized something, but she had yet to do any research on her own and it would be pathetic to ask him as a shortcut.

But suddenly…

“Oh? The Rank 5s of the vassal unit are training today.”

A group of three approached from behind. It was Asama, Aoi, and Mitotsudaira that “Musashi” had thought of earlier.

They were holding hands as they walked somewhere.

Asama was a little disturbed by “Musashi’s” gaze.

…''Ehh? I-I think she’s glaring at us.

“Musashi” was the captain automaton for all eight of the Musashi’s ships. Asama knew her through her work at the Asama Shrine and had even worked with her on reports and business affairs.

But why was the automaton giving her a look of suspicion?

She found an answer almost as soon as she started wondering.

…''I have Kimi to my right and a Cerberus on Mito’s head to my left!

They were also holding hands, so she had to look like a strange person in the center. There was no doubt about it. Working to maintain order on the Musashi was one of “Musashi’s” duties, so of course she was suspicious.

…''Kimi might be a lost cause with her long history of past offenses, but as the Shinto representative of the Asama Shrine, Mito’s Cerberus is cute-…no, I mean safe. There’s no problem there.

Also…

…''I feel like “Musashi”-san is looking at all three of us.

She quietly asked about it.

“Did you do something, Kimi? Or did Toori-kun?”

“Heh heh. Leave it to the master detective Clever Aoi! …And no, I didn’t say Cleavage Aoi!”

“Maybe wait until someone actually thought you said that?”

“True.” Kimi nodded. “Asama, I happen to know the password to stop Musashi’s automatons from being suspicious.”

“You’re lying to me again, aren’t you?”

“What are you saying, Asama? Trust me, okay? Now, listen. It’s an equation: π 0 i M Sin. Now, read that backwards!”

“How about you do it?”

“Sign my oppai!!”<ref>Oppai means breasts.</ref>

Kimi shouted the answer with a smile, but then…

“I told you to say it, Asamaaaa!!!!”

“Nwaaah! You are the worst!”

However, the situation was already on the move. The students heading home from school and the vassal unit down below were looking at them with disturbed expressions of disbelief.

Naruze was spraying blood and falling from the sky on her way to the transport district, but that was nothing new. Asama just hoped it did not interfere with her work.

As for “Musashi” right in front of them…

…''Ah, she’s really put up her guard!!

“Asama!” Kimi gave her an extremely serious look. “Calm down! No one’s at fault here!”

“Do you think whoever says that first is absolved of guilt!? You do, don’t you!?”

“What are you staying, you silly girl? I was only trying to cover for you.”

“Why you…!”

Asama tried to raise her left hand, but Mitotsudaira held it. The crazy person showed no sign of caring as she faced “Musashi”.

“Heh heh. Sorry about that, ‘Musashi’. Our Asama can be so careless.”

“Do not worry about it.”

“Musashi” tilted her head to adjust her thoughts and she fixed her apron.

“Where are you three going and what for? Over.”

''Eh?'' thought Asama as she mentally tilted her head.

“Musashi” never asked things like that. For one, she could track them while they were on the surface or in the corridors.

If she was asking…

…''She must be curious where we’re going next.

With the crazy person on her right and the Cerberus owner on her left, it did indeed look like they were going to cause some trouble, so Asama forced a smile.

“We’re on our way to Takao.”

“Are you three training as well? Over.”

“Eh?”

After nearly answering the question with a question, Asama quickly swallowed her words.

…''Training?”

Takao was used for Buddhist training. Thanks to the history recreation of the syncretism of Shinto and Buddhism, they would work with Shinto and the Asama Shrine supplied them with ether. The area was also used for walks, picnics, and dates, but if students – one of them from the Asama Shrine – were going there…

…''I guess you would think it’s for training.

Lying would not help, so Asama told the truth.

“We’re just going there to relax.”

“The three of us are on a date together! Jealous, aren’t you!?”

“Musashi” reacted to Kimi’s words by looking to Asama, Mitotsudaira, and finally Kimi. Then she placed a hand on her forehead.

“This seems quite different from the concept of a ‘date’ in my head.”

“What is a ‘date’ to you, ‘Musashi’-san?”

All of the nearby boys on the way back from school held their breath and tensed up, but “Musashi” paid them no heed as she placed a finger on her chin.

“Using some spare time to visit a sunny part of the deck, stare into the sky, view the world without focusing on ether reactions, serve your partner some tea, and discuss things unrelated to your official duties. Over.”

“I see.” Mitotsudaira nodded and continued with a tone of comprehension. “In other words, what you always do with Principal Sakai.”

“Musashi” gave Mitotsudaira a truly frightening look and the girl and her Cerberus began trembling and sweating. Asama urged them to calm down and looked back to “Musashi”.

“Anyway, um, we’re going on a date to relax a little. …The plan is to follow the towing belts around from Takao to Oume and then Murayama.”

“To relax? Over.”

Asama mentally tilted her head again.

…''That was a question?

What had that automaton thought about their plans to relax?

It seemed like something an automaton would have difficulty understanding, but even they had to take some time to “relax” in order to optimize their memories. In that case…

“Is something the matter?”

Once Asama asked, “Musashi” finally lowered her head.

“I apologize. The captain should not be stopping a Musashi resident, especially one as important as you, Asama-sama. However, I have determined I would like to say something,” said “Musashi”. “I now understand that you are living busy enough lives to necessitate some time off to relax. I do not understand what that means, but I will support any possibilities within the Musashi. Over.”

“Is that so…?”

Asama did not really understand, but it was true she was busy dealing with her awful classmates and other difficulties on a daily basis. And that busyness had grown lately with the Gagaku Festival coming up.

Kimi smiled and tugged on her arm.

“Heh heh. Then how about we get going? ‘Musashi’, you take care of Adele and the others’ training, okay?”

“Judge. I will serve them some tea later so they too can take some time to relax. Over.”

“Musashi” bowed and the Cerberus barked in response.

When Asama heard that, she realized Kimi was pulling her forward.

“W-wait, Kimi! I’m supposed to be escorting you!”

“Um, are you okay, Naruze-kun? I certainly didn’t expect you to fall unconscious from the sky with blood spraying everywhere.”’

Naruze got up and found herself in the transport district on the port side of Okutama. The afternoon rush had begun as cargo arrived from other ships and the lower floors.

“Nn…”

Outside a relay warehouse, she shook her somewhat empty-feeling head and looked around while sitting on a bench next to some vending machines.

The pedophile and the curry boy were there. Noriki walked past carrying some lumber, but she knew he had likely been guarding her until she came to. Also…

…''Ah.

A white handkerchief had been laid out on the bench where her head had been resting.

It belonged to Margot. The girl had continued on with their work instead of worrying too much. Naruze would have felt like a burden otherwise, so she appreciated it. And…

“Ohiroshiki, did something happen while I was asleep?”

“Naito-kun received some kind of document from a representative of the delivery business. She said something about wanting to discuss it with you later.”

“Judge. So it was finally accepted.”

“What was?” asked Hassan.

Someone stopped her there.

“Hey.”

It was Noriki. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

“We mostly get it already, so you don’t have to tell us.”

“True.” Naruze nodded and looked him in the eye. “You never get entirely involved in our affairs, do you?”

“If you get it, you don’t have to say it.”

“If I think you want me to say it, shouldn’t I say it even if I get it?”

“Then don’t say it.” Noriki smiled a little. “All I can do is earn enough to pay for my siblings’ tuition.”

“Then you’ll be joining us eventually, won’t you?”

“Why would I?”

“Don’t be silly.” Naruze smiled bitterly. “You said that’s all you ''can'' do. If it was all you ''should'' do, then you would be stuck doing that forever. But when it’s all you ''can'' do, you’re freed from that once there’s more you can do, right? You’re definitely planning to join us once you can and once you’re done with this.”

“That’s just a play on words.”

“Well, I am a Technohexen.”

Naruze sighed and sat back on the bench.

“Why do guys love making everything more trouble than it has to be?”

“Wh-what are you saying!?” exclaimed Ohiroshiki. “I love simple things! I do!!”

“Pipe down, criminal.”

She ignored his protests, did not hesitate to blow her nose with the handkerchief, and checked the color of the drying blood. She then threw her legs forward and leaned her back against the warehouse’s wall.

…''If Margot shared the document, I should be able to see it.

She opened a crop mark frame Magie Figur.

“…?”

All of a sudden, someone held a paper cup out to her from the side, so she looked to see who it was.

“Tenzou?”

“This is a treat from ‘Musashi’-dono. There is enough for everyone.”

The ninja then handed cups out to Ohiroshiki, Hassan, and Persona-kun who happened to be passing by.

…''I’m such a troublesome person.

She had known all of them for a long time, but she did not feel very close to them. Perhaps that was because she had started living on her own pretty early. That had changed to “with a roommate”, but that gave her a home beyond the class. She also had her position in the delivery business.

She would not go so far as to call herself independent, but she mostly saw the academy as a place to relax. And thanks to her personality, she had a tendency to build walls between herself and others.

…''But I’m glad they don’t exclude me because of it.

If they did, she would have no reason to be in the same class as them. Even if she was the one building the walls, if they did truly reject her, she would just fall back on her occupation. She would stop even showing up at the academy.

The ever-changing sense of belonging in the academy allowed for a change of pace just by being there, but…

“You all love looking after people, don’t you?”

“That is not what I’m doing,” insisted the ninja.

“I never said I was talking about you, Mr. Self-Conscious.”

The Ninja groaned and clenched his right fist, but she enjoyed interpersonal relationships with that much tension to them.

''Anyway,'' she thought while looking back to her Magie Figur.

…''Edel Brocken’s tester exam.

She was looking at the document granting them the qualifications to take the exam.

…''We have the document, but that doesn’t mean we have to take the exam.

This was just one path toward the future.
Edel Brocken was a company located somewhere in M.H.R.R. that developed equipment exclusively for Technohexen. Any licensed Technohexen who had reached a certain level would suddenly have an Edel Brocken pamphlet and passcode sent to them. If they ignored it, they would never have any dealings with Edel Brocken. If they registered, they would have occasional dealings with Edel Brocken, seemingly whenever the company felt like it.

Naruze had seen it once when the Musashi was traveling along the southwestern provisional border of M.H.R.R.

The reflection of the morning sun beyond the early morning clouds had revealed the shadow of a giant floating mountain resembling a three-cornered hat.

“That is Edel Brocken,” Almirante, head of the individual delivery business, had told her.

Edel Brocken sought testers for its equipment, but they generally restricted themselves to one and occasionally two from a nation. They only needed a Weiss Hexen and a Schwarz Hexen after all.

The Far East already had a tester on the Musashi. That tester was a woman named Wild Kamelie, a Schwarz Hexen from M.H.R.R.

That took up the sole tester slot. The Far East had no Technohexen culture in the first place, so a tester for a standard ''schale besen'' was all they needed.

But a slight problem had been pointed out the year before.

Edel Brocken was apparently expanding their lineup of equipment to deal with the Thirty Years’ War and the Apocalypse, so they were providing even the Musashi with two tester slots.

One entry in their lineup of next generation Technohexen equipment was apparently a cumulative equipment style of ''schale besen'' for both Weiss and Scharz Hexen.

It was rumored to be a high-speed and high-mobility model that required the combat Technohexen outfits that had been optional in the past. It was also rumored to have anti-warship capabilities.

“In that case, what are Musashi’s Technohexen to do?”

Wild Kamelie already had the Schwarz Hexen position, so that left the Weiss Hexen position open.

That gave Naruze the advantage.

If she could take that position, she would be the leading Weiss Hexen on the Musashi. That would guarantee her current lifestyle for as long as she remained a tester and it would likely stabilize her position in the future as well.

It was worth taking the challenge. Simply trying would bring her name to the forefront. But…

…''Margot.

The two of them were a Weiss and Schwarz Hexen pair.

They had only been so close for a few years, but their connection went back beyond that, they lived together, they worked together, and they spent their lives together. She was someone Naruze did not want to be parted from.

Of course, Margot would tell her not to worry about it if she said anything, so there was nothing to say. But…

…''Am I spoiled if I want her to be the tester with me?

She had asked to let Margot see the paperwork too when it came in. If she became the tester, it would be a big change in both their lives.

What was she supposed to do?

Inviting Margot to the tester exam would be easy, but that would mean Margot had to take on Wild Kamelie.

Wild Kamelie had real combat experience in Eastern Europe and she was only in her late twenties. At that age, she had the best of both worlds as far as experience and physical strength were concerned.

Defeating her would be great, but losing to her would be the end of it all. That would demonstrate their difference in status and settle their position within the Musashi.

But Naruze also had to worry about passing her own tester exam.

It was a troublesome issue, so…

“I could always just not do it.”

“Not do what?”

The ninja looked over, so she smiled bitterly.

“A certain plan for the future.”

“For Musashi’s future?”

''He isn’t getting that wrong on purpose, is he?” she wondered.

“Well, you could say it has to do with where we’re headed.”

She stood up from the bench, stretched, and spread her wings.

She drank down the tea in the paper cup, tossed it into the vending machine trashcan, and looked to the others around her.

“If you all have work, get to it.”

“Judge. This was only a detour on the way.”

“That’s exactly the kind of distance I want from you.”

She smiled a little and took off. With a flap her wings, she kicked off the warehouse wall and soared high into the sky.

“What do you call this?”

Her black wings took her into the white sky that was already filled with many of her colleagues.

“Is it courage or recklessness? I want to do this whichever it is. And the result will be the same either way.”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
| [[Horizon:Kimitoasamade 1B Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 37

2016-03-03T02:23:56Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 37: Wing Users in the Sky */ typo

==Chapter 37: Wing Users in the Sky==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0115.jpg|thumb]]
''It is a type of light

''It bites at the darkness

''It approaches strength

'''Point Allocation (Attacker)

Black and white lines travelled through the blue sky above the green earth.

They rode Schwarz Fräulein and Weiss Fräulein, specialized hulls provided by Edel Brocken. Schwarz Fräulein and Weiss Fräulein were pulled forward with excellent acceleration.

The wind that not even an atmospheric buffering spell could prevent washed over the white Technohexen as she sent out words using the crop mark frame Magie Figur she had drawn with her right hand. Her voice itself was drowned out by the wind, but the words still appeared in the speech bubbles.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Margot! I can see them! They’re eight kilometers away!”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Judge! Let’s swap positions once we’re within five kilometers!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Judge! We’ll be making a turn, so switch over your turn settings!”

They had a single goal: stop the ship that Sviet Rus had sent toward the Ariake.

…''And do it in a nondestructive way!

They would demonstrate that they could shoot down the ship, but they would intentionally avoid doing so.

They intended to destroy the rear thruster to knock it off course. After all…

…''That will show that’s all we need to do to erase that threat! The transport ship attacks at Magdeburg happened at night and when the divine transmissions were out.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “But we’ll show them that we’re here now!”

Naruze upped her speed.

She had to hurry because Margot had not hesitated to accelerate in front of her. Naruze desperately pursued her through the hole in the wind created by Schwarz Fräulein and the golden wings.

She could see the light created by the Schwarz Techno acceleration spell. Beyond that, she saw Margot’s main wings stretching straight back and her skirt fluttering up in the wind.

'''Gold Mar:''' “Ga-chan, is it just me or are you forcing yourself to stick to that spot?”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “I can see every contour of your butt in those tights, so I’m only obeying my instincts!”

'''Gold Mar:''' “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed at all. …We’re in range! That means…”

“Judge,” replied Naruze as she pushed back the accelerator with the back of her thighs. She leaned forward and pursued Margot while making sure not to be blown away by the wind.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Here we go, Margot!”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Well, I was actually thinking I should tell you to watch out. Look.”

The color white passed by over Naruze’s forward-leaning head.

…''An ice shell!?

She assumed it had come from the Sviet Rus fleet, but she was wrong.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “It came from the transport ship!? It isn’t unmanned!?”

'''Gold Mar:''' “There are no life signs onboard! So…”

Naruze understood. The enemy had predicted this counterattack. And…

'''Gold Mar:''' “Ga-chan! Their attack is coming! It’s multi-stage!!”

With the Technohexen three kilometers away, thirty-two projectiles resembling white spears were launched from different parts of the approaching transport ship.

They were ice spears. The spears themselves were made from Orei Nero and the spell dissolved into them reacted.

'''“Orthodoxia: Attack Spell: Multi-Shell Split and Homing: Confirmed.”

They each broke apart into eight different spears and an acceleration spell activated on the back of each one. A moment later, they drew arcs through the sky as they flew straight toward something.

In the early summer sky, the many pillars of ice turned at sharp angles, let out a spray of light, and surfed through empty air.

Their targets were the two approaching Technohexen, but then a red light appeared on the sight device on the bow of the unmanned transport ship.

'''“Additional shells: Confirmed.”

More frozen multi-shell attacks were scattered about for a second and third stage.

The temperature difference created a white mist in the sky. Some of the ice pillars were caught in the wind, collided with each other, and shattered, but the unmanned ship did not care. The white ship continued scattering white spears through the sky as it flew straight toward the white and black Technohexen.

After forcing her way past Margot to move out front, Naruze saw it.

…''Would you call this a white rain shower?

More than just a barrage or a barrier, a solid space of enemy projectiles appeared before her eyes wrapped in mist.

Represented in a line drawing, there would have been little white space and they would end up being drawn in black even if she tried to draw them white. That was how solidly the space was filled with enemy projectiles.

“Not bad. If all they have to do is fire a ton of multi-stage homing shells, a transport ship will work as well as a warship. It’s useful enough for resisting a short-term counterattack.”

Naruze felt she should complain. She felt she should curse and verbally abuse the enemy for doing this, but…

“Hah!”

She heard her own voice in the wind. She wrinkled her brow, but stared at her opponent and let out a roar, without knowing if she should twist her mouth into a smile or into a look of anger.

“Don’t underestimate Technohexen, Sviet Rus!!”

She opened the rail wings on either hip so they extended back on either side. The backs of her knees caught on the accelerator and she raised her butt.

“Watch this.”

She held Weiss Fräulein between her knees and forced the accelerator back.

She held down the device as it was buffeted by the wind and she cut forward through the sky.

She simply focused on that forward movement.

“Here I go!”

''It sure is cold,'' thought Naruze.

The chill of the air felt like a premonition. There was no sound in her vicinity, she felt the softness of her body parting the air like water, and she saw the many lines of white ice approaching.

“Heh…heh.”

It almost looked like her entire field of vision turned white.

…''It’s just like a manuscript page before you’ve drawn anything.

''Now, then. Where to begin? Where should I place the pencil tip to begin the initial roughs?

''The top right, I suppose. But starting with the characters there would be too standard. I’ll divide up the panels, of course.

''This time, I should start with the background on the top right. I should keep the background dense on the right and thin it out toward the center to draw the eye leftward.

''And looking to the left will bring you to the heroine’s face. Then looking down from there will show the heroine walking this way, from the top to the bottom of the page. She’ll be a bit of a dark girl who likes to avoid things.

''But the heroine isn’t looking this way. She’s looking to the bottom right of the page. The mid-level panel will show a friend running up from behind the heroine.

''That friend will be cheerful but will seem at home no matter where she goes. She’ll be calling out to the heroine as she runs up. The sunlight will be shining this way from above her. That should give a nice sense of the season.

''The panel frame will have a close up of the friend’s face with a flower next to it. A white flower. A camellia would be nice and Far Eastern. And while linking that flower to the heroine, it can scatter some of its petals on the heroine’s side to represent some slight unease.

''If I were to plan the next page, it would have the heroine turning back toward the friend with a clear blue sky in the background.

''No, maybe a ton of flowers would be better.

''Well, I guess I’ll go with that.

'''Mal-Ga:''' “I’m in combat range!”

As soon as the white Technohexen arrived within two kilometers of the transport ship, she ascended to the upper right.

She continuously fired four guided coin bullets while flying in a gradual ascending arc. The black Technohexen followed. Like a school of fish, the transport ship’s homing shells increased their density on the upper right. But…

“Over here!!”

While Weiss Fräulein rose to the upper right, the white Technohexen was sticking her butt in that same direction as she fought to maintain control of the device, but then she forced her butt to the left. This pointed the white hull in that direction.

“…!”

She almost seemed to jump over to the upper left of the ship.

The enemy shells could not keep up. Their density was still focused on the upper right, so they quickly created arcs of pursuit.

But Naruze was already circling around below the ship. She dropped straight down in a gouging line and the pen tip on the back of the hull drew a guiding line.

“Wah.”

But even using that guiding line, the speed-focused black Technohexen could not follow. As if dancing or bouncing through the air, she started pursuing the white Technohexen in a diagonal line from the upper right, but…

“Margot! Don’t force yourself over this way!! Keep going straight!!”

As the enemy shells resumed pursuing her again, the white Technohexen swung her body, but she was not changing direction. She pointed her back down and the bottom of her hull toward heaven.

“I can see you!”

She held the hull toward heaven as a shield and pointed the pen in her hand toward the pursuing enemy shells. As the pen tip raced through the air, it drew three-dimensional lines that reached all of the flying ice pillars.

“Herrlich!!”

Coin bullets launched from Weiss Fräulein as it took high-speed evasive action and flipped around.

The number of lines was the same as the number of destroyed ice pillars.

White flowers blossomed in midair and the white Technohexen made a shallow ascent as if to fly between the scattering light.

The boxy front of the transport ship released several beams of light.

“Ether cannons!!”

They flew in straight lines at first, but they did not maintain that straight path. They were homing versions. Light sprayed out as they took a winding path toward the black Technohexen who was following from a little behind, but…

“Could you be any more obvious!?”

The white Technohexen rapidly fired homing coin bullets toward the ether cannon beams approaching from behind her partner like sunlight.

However, she was not targeting the ether cannon light itself. She instead targeted the homing multi stage ice pillars also approaching the other girl. Those many ice spears were a means of attack, but at the same time…

“They’re what the ether cannons are tracking! It’s blatantly obvious if you look at the trajectories!”

Sure enough, the ether cannon blasts were flying in diagonal trajectories that more closely followed the ice shells than the black Technohexen herself.

The white Technohexen chose to avoid the shells pursuing her and focused instead on the ones pursuing her partner.

“Margot! Trust me!!”

She drew a straight guiding line to herself, so…

“Judge!!”

The black Technohexen flew straight to the white Technohexen without any fear.

The ether cannon light released from the ship like sunlight continued pursuing her, but that did not matter.

The white Technohexen fired. Her repeated shots overlapped, grew to a true rapid-fire, and repeatedly shattered the ice pillars still pursuing her partner.

White flowers burst in the sky and sounds of destruction blossomed.

The flowers were split apart time and again as the ether cannon light swept through the air, but…

“Herrlich!!”

She fired one last bullet to finish her drawing and that led to the conclusion.

The icy pursuers had vanished from behind the black Technohexen. As soon as only the rough wind and blowing mist remained, the ship’s ether cannon beams ended their winding pursuit. And…

“Ga-chan!”

The black Technohexen caught up to the white one as if leaping into her chest.

Without even looking back, the white Technohexen drew several lines around herself and smiled.

“C’mon, Margot. You need to come straight toward me.”

Her rapid-fire shattered all of the ice pillars remaining in the blue sky visible above the horizon.

The shattering white flowers colored the sky, but the black Technohexen smiled within the blossoming and scattering flowers.

“But Ga-chan, having your butt right in front of me is really distracting.”

“So now you know how I felt?”

“Judge!”

With that reply, the two blushing Technohexen accelerated. They ascended toward the transport ship they were just about to pass by.

They did not hold back on the speed and the white one pulled ahead due to her greater acceleration.

“Here we go!”

The black one moved forward to pass the white one.

Naito’s plan to intercept the transport ship was a simple one.

In order to load cargo from the top, transport ships barely had any armor there. So just as she passed by, she would force her trajectory up and around to fire on the engine division below the rear deck.

…''I don’t know what we’ll do if they have armor on the top.

She decided to keep her thoughts positive. She saw transport ships flying and maneuvering on a daily basis aboard the Musashi, so her instincts told her this ship had nothing heavy on the top. So if she was to trust in and have confidence in herself here…

“Here goes!”

She flew up. She knew Naruze was following thanks to the movements of the wind she felt in her wings. She lit the five acceleration spells opened for Schwarz Fräulein’s mobility, but…

…''Eh!?

She was confused.

The wind around her suddenly flowed downward like a massive muddy stream.

Before she could question why, she saw the answer up ahead.

The transport ship was turning.

It had been flying toward the Ariake, but it began a large roll as if to avoid their attack. Looking at it from the front, it would have been a clockwise roll. As the starboard side started moving up, the starboard deck turned away from Naito, as if to avoid exposing its back to her.

Also, its ether cannons began firing sweeping blasts through the air without even aiming.

The smell of the air roasting and the rumbling of wind reached her and she saw a giant glowing sword of power racing through the sky, but…

“Let’s go, Ga-chan.”

She simply accelerated as if to ascend through the rotation of the air.

“Oh, my…”

Kiyomasa watched the scene from a rocky hill in the forest.

As the transport ship rolled clockwise, the black Technohexen flew straight up. The black light shot up in a straight line as if to look down on the rolling ship.

But even Kiyomasa could tell the black Technohexen’s trajectory was a reckless one.

…''She’s going to be launched straight up!

The black flight device was built with a focus on high speeds and its current speed was simply too high.

But another color showed up to support the black: white. The white Technohexen seemed to pass below the black one.

The white Technohexen’s flight device was more focused on acceleration and it swept across the rotating ship’s armor in a grazing trajectory. The line of light passed right over the ship as if peeling an apple or sweeping everything away. Meanwhile, she drew something.

It was a guiding line to keep her black partner from leaving the ship. It was hand-drawn and it did not reach the black Technohexen overhead, but…

“Is that…?”

The white Technohexen opened a Magie Figur with the hand not holding the pen. As soon as she placed her hand on it, an evenly-spaced grid grew from her line and one portion hopped upwards like a whip.

She had applied a transformation to the line using a program.

The wavy guiding line grasped the center of the black Technohexen’s hull as she nearly strayed off course.

From there, a circus began. Because she was held by the guiding line, the black Technohexen revolved around the ship without losing any of her speed.

By sliding the back of her hull forward as if falling back on her butt, her hull performed a reversing loop.

The hull spun around like that, but the black Technohexen herself did something else. She let go of the hull and did not let herself rotate.

“Is she is preparing to fire!?” guessed Fukushima next to Kiyomasa.

That was exactly what happened.

In the blowing wind, the rear thruster of the rotating black hull pointed upwards. The black Technohexen threw five long rolls of hundred-yen coins that likely had about five thousand yen each.

Fukushima had been sitting next to Kiyomasa and healing her, but her hands had stopped.

Her eyes were focused on the white and black Technohexen who accelerated as they began to disappear on the other side of the rolling ship. The white one skimmed just around the ship, pulling the black one as she did. The black one held the rotating black hull below her arm and aimed the rear thruster like a cannon.

…''Herrlich.

In place of a trigger, she grabbed the accelerator with one hand.

The Technohexen finally moved out of sight beyond the rolling ship.

A moment later, the ship transformed as it was passing overhead.

The rear hull swelled out as if it were filling with water. The hardened wood armor split and changed shape due to the internal pressure. That pressure could find no path out, so it blew to the front and upwards.

A great rumbling soon followed.

Next, something exploded from the unseen upper deck and into the sky beyond the ship.

“Oh, my!”

It was the destruction of the internal engine, surrounded by a white water vapor explosion.

The engine division below the rear deck had likely exploded and its shockwave had decorated the sky. With the sound of the air being torn into and split apart, the ship’s path dropped down and the aft end swayed downward.

It was falling.

But Fukushima suddenly spoke up.

“It would be quite rude of them to leave it like this! …If it falls, it will cause damage!”

As she asked what they would do, Fukushima squeezed Kiyomasa’s arm without noticing. She was probably just excited, but since it was on the verge of breaking the arm, Kiyomasa moved the arm.

“—————”

“Nh? What is it, Kiyo-dono!? Is this exciting thee as much as it is me!?”

“No, um, w-wait. m-my arm, my arm.”

Fukushima finally seemed to catch on. She quickly let go, descended to the bottom of the rocky hill using Headfirst Fall, and prostrated herself on the ground.

“I-I am so very sorry! I very nearly harmed that precious body that could likely pull off the Giant Breasts Defense!”

…''She would be fine if it wasn’t for things like this. …And what was that last thing she said?

The two of them were the young leaders of the Ten Spears, so she wished Fukushima could calm down a little.

But just as she was going to tell the girl not to worry about it…

…''The sky.

She felt something like a chill in the sky, as if something were being removed.

She heard a single light sound like a thin sheet of metal being struck, but it had reached her from a distant part of the sky.

She looked up to the falling transport ship and saw the black and white Technohexen returning to the Musashi, but the sound had not come from the two of them.

A great power had pierced through the falling ship from front to back.

“A physical shell!?”

The tremor of an explosive blast filled the sky, followed by the waves of light caused by red flames and scattering ether.

The transport ship had exploded.

The ship shot down in the Technohexen attack had been destroyed to prevent it from falling any further.

“I’m guessing that was a physical shell with a breaking spell added on. Those have an effective range of around ten kilometers and it looks like it was enough to break the ship’s keel. I’m guessing they thought destroying most of it with a spell was far better than letting that great mass fall and cause damage on the surface.”

In the floating festival, Shigenaga commented on the outcome as she viewed it through an Orthodox ''sankt okno'' displaying a magnified image.

As she watched, a giant silhouette appeared in the eastern sky.

“So the Ariake is showing itself. …Quite an extraordinary view for our festival sky.”

Light raced through the sky like sea spray and a white surface came into view from south to north.

It was the Ariake.

That specialized dock for the Musashi was a giant mass of metal that looked something like a flat and thick cloud, but a single spot of red was visible on top. It was the god of war belonging to Musashi’s 6th Special Duty Officer.

…''Isn’t that the Something-Or-Other Suzaku?

A Tres Españan aerial god of war’s wings were equipped on its back, but it was currently lying flat on the Ariake’s upper armor. As it did so, it was holding something and aiming it this way.

“So they modified an English-style ship’s gun into a god of war sniper cannon, did they? The English-style ones really are a little too accurate.”

Tenzou viewed the divine transmission from Naomasa.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “I might not be a match for Asama-chi, but I can manage well enough with sniping spells. All of the recoil and heat is handled by the wings on the back, so jams can be a real pain in the ass, though.”

“Also,” she added.

'''Smoking Girl:''' “There are a few others who can use these things. Can you see them?”

“Judge,” confirmed Tenzou.

The sign frame he was viewing with Mary showed a unit of a few heavy, middle, and light gods of war aiming a total of eight sniper cannons in various directions.

Naito and Naruze’s presence was one way they were warning the three nations, but also…

…''We’re showing that we can accurately locate so many enemies.

Those sniping positions could not be taken immediately.

The Ariake had removed its stealth barrier not just to show off the god of war sniper unit, but also to show they could target the enemy even from inside the stealth barrier.

The Ariake had essentially revealed the source of the attack to the enemy. Even with the sniper cannons, they had chosen to harm their own position to harm the enemy.

The Ariake’s Kantou IZUMO representative Mishina Shouichi was speaking in another window inside the sign frame.

'''481:''' “How about that!? How about that, dad!? Jizuri Suzaku’s sniper cannon is pretty cool, ain’t it!? It’s still using the main barrel and hasn’t even expanded its full barrel, and it’s already this cool! Isn’t it just plain adorable!?”

'''Mr. Mecha:''' “What? Are you stupid? If you’re gonna have the Suzaku fire, you’ve gotta start with shooting a ton of homing beams from the ends of the spiky wings. Don’t act like you’re all-that after using a long gun instead of the wings, you amateur.”

'''481:''' “You’re exactly the kind of adult I hate! You always act like you know what you’re talking about!!”

''Such a fulfilling relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law,'' thought Tenzou as Shigenaga looked his way.

“Using gods of war for movable cannons is a decent idea. Each of the Musashi’s ships can move independently and can cruise at high speeds, so I can see why you would need cannons that can move on a moment’s notice. When using them for real, do you have sniping stations where they can fire while at least kneeling?”

Everyone looked Tenzou’s way when she asked that, so it looked like they wanted him to respond.

…''Well, it probably would be best for me to respond since she can’t see my expression.

The nudist acted like being a nudist was his job, Horizon would begin using her Horizon Logic, Mitotsudaira was likely still full of energy after the battle in Mito, and he would feel bad leaving this to Mary.

So he quickly answered “judge”. He had no real reason to actually answer Shigenaga’s question, so he decided to change the subject.

“How did you like that physical shell? Nice, wasn’t it? Those are the true romance of men.”

“Oh?” said Shigenaga as she raised the right corner of her mouth and nodded.

''When she crosses her arms, her breasts look quite large, but even that trick doesn’t bring her anywhere close to Mary-dono,'' he noted as she pointed westward with her chin.

“Did you shoot down that ship in response to the threat of an enemy ship containing a dragon line reactor, just like during the fall of K.P.A. Italia?”

“Does Sviet Rus view the dragon line reactors as a threat?”

Tenzou asked while realizing he was making a precarious tightrope walk. Shigenaga did not nod, but she did smile a little.

“Long ago, a ley line reactor went out of control in Sviet Rus land and caused wide-scale destruction. That land still exists as a Harmonic Territory, but it remains a ‘man-eating land’ where mysterious phenomena occur and it fills with ether mist on moonlit nights. Shadows of aerial ships, sounds of war, and human cries fill that land.”

“Well…”

Tenzou had heard rumors of that. As a history recreation interpretation, the event had officially “never happened”, but that was just how it was.

At any rate, Shigenaga nodded in front of him.

“Testament. There are likely distortions and misunderstandings introduced as the story was passed down, but before the Harmonic Unification War, a civil war broke out in Old Moscow as a part of the history recreation. Apparently, that led to the city’s annihilation. That is why the Kasuga Gora Kremlin has functioned as Moscow ever since the Harmonic Unification War.”

Tenzou listened to Shigenaga.

“My mother was one of the returnees…that is, one of the people who returned to the real world from the Harmonic Territories. As the front-line defender here, I believe I understand just how important runaway ley line reactors are to Sviet Rus.”

“In that case,” said Tenzou while raising his right index finger as if indicating their selling point here. “With us around, you do not need to worry about transport ship attacks like that.”

“What? Make no mistake here. Even Sviet Rus can intercept a ship like that. We just need a few average or higher flight-capable demons and someone who can use a penetration spell.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “The ninja’s crappy sales pitch just wasted all of our efforts out here. Sob…”

'''10ZO:''' “You’re willing to pretend to cry if it means making fun of me!?”

'''Marube-ya:''' “Anyway, you can’t come back until you make up for what we lost there.”

''Fine then,'' thought Tenzou as he raised his right hand again.

“Then how about this?”

“About what?”

He worked at cheerfully responding to Shigenaga’s question.

“Since both Sviet Rus and we can at least defend against transport ship attacks, we know we both understand the threat that dragon line reactors pose. And in northern Kantou, Sviet Rus is in the west and we are in the east, so with the two of us there, we can reduce Hashiba’s influence and power in Oushuu. Isn’t that right?”

''Did that do it?'' he wondered as he looked her way.

…''Huh?

Shigenaga had narrowed her eyes sharply.

“We cannot leave the protection of Oushuu to you.” She had wiped all expression from her face. “Someone else is much better suited to that role and we have promised to protect the west until they return. So even if you have shown your strength by intercepting that transport ship, you have not earned any more points than that.”

She was quite definitive and she turned to the side with a snort.

She had utterly rejected them.

'''Asama:''' “I had a feeling that would happen… Maybe Tenzou-kun used up all his diplomacy skill back in England.”

'''Azuma:''' “Oh, sorry. I’m just getting some snacks for ???, so continue on without me.”

'''Worshipper:''' “Welcome! Welcome, Tenzou-kun! You’re one of us now!!”

'''10ZO:''' “I had a feeling you would react like this, but you didn’t actually have to do it! But you know what? I don’t care! I’m solidly on the Mary-dono route, so I know I made the right decision here!!”

'''Vice President:''' “Don’t screw up our diplomacy because you don’t care!”

'''Uqui:''' “Heh heh heh. There’s a world of difference between that and my definite progress on the elder sister route.”

They were the same as always, but then Shigenaga sighed and turned back toward him.

“But what will you do, Musashi? We will continue firing, you know? The three nations are still approaching the Ariake, so the force of our bombardment will only grow. And…”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “Urquiaga! Check what they’re doing there! The cannon fire from Date is growing fixated!”

…''Growing fixated!?

The trajectories of the shells were growing simpler. That made it easier for the Ariake to defend, but it also meant Date could focus on doing something else. And then Urquiaga sent a divine transmission back.

'''Uqui:''' “They seem to be launching gods of war toward the Ariake. Ones capable of aerial combat.”

“Yes.” Shigenaga smiled. “That would be the Date clan’s prized Dragon Knights made up of anti-ship gods of war.”

But that was not all. A sign frame opened with an “emergency” designation. It was a warning from the Musashi.

'''Musashino:''' “Something is happening on the Jurakudai in the south! Someone has appeared on the bow deck!”

It was…

'''Musashino:''' “Someone thought to be Hashiba Hidetsugu-sama has come out!! Over.”

“Hashiba’s nephew? They let someone that important out on the front lines?”

Naruze had returned to the sky above the Ariake and she was using a Magie Figur to view the information from the Musashi’s bridge.

The Jurakudai approaching from the south was drawn in the crop mark frame, but as the panels advanced, it zoomed in and a boy could be seen standing on the bow.

The boy with long black hair stood weakly with the blue sky in the background. He looked skinny, but his most noticeable feature was the dragon horn growing from the left of his head above his gentle eyebrows.

Margot narrowed her eyes when she saw it.

“That’s Hashiba Hidetsugu? He’s a dragon-man? Are you sure this isn’t cosplay?”

“Judge. I think it’s a real horn. But that isn’t all. You can see that, can’t you?”

Naruze pointed at the boy in the Magie Figur.

He stood on the Jurakudai’s bow, but the ship’s bridge was visible through him.

She clicked her tongue at the fact that he was transparent.

“He’s a ghost. …In other words, he still has some kind of regret, so he’s sticking around in this world to fulfill whatever it is. This isn’t good.”

“Judge. But as Technohexen, we might not be the best ones to say this isn’t good.”

“True.”

As Naruze smiled bitterly, something else occurred on the Magie Figur footage. A girl stepped up alongside the dragon horn boy. She had long ears.

…''A long-lived?

No, her ears were covered in fur. She was a nearly humanoid half-fox girl. And…

“Another ghost…”

But that was not all. Yet another person arrived behind the two of them.

It was a tall woman in a P.A. Oda uniform with her hair worn up.

“Musashi. It would seem you can see us from there. In that case, we will hold Lord Hidetsugu and Lady Komahime’s greeting here.”

A dog-like Mouse appeared on her shoulder. Naruze’s eyebrows rose when she noticed the number “2” stitched on the woman’s uniform.

[[Image:Horizon4B_0141.jpg|thumb]]

“Don’t tell me… Is that #2 of P.A. Oda’s Six Heavenly Demon Army!?”

The woman with the Mouse answered that question with a smile.

“I am Niwa Nagahide, P.A. Oda’s 3rd Special Duty Officer as well as #2 of the Six Heavenly Demon Army and the Five Great Peaks.”

Naruze’s eyebrows rose further when she heard Niwa’s name.

“Niwa Nagahide was in charge of constructing Azuchi Castle, right? Is that why she’s here?”

“Ohh… I always thought that name was pronounced Tanba.”

“Everyone does at first, Margot.”

Meanwhile, Niwa spread her sleeveless arms in the Magie Figur. Those arms supported the two ghosts standing in front of her.

When the fox-eared girl gave her a troubled look, Niwa smiled back.

“This girl is…Lady Mogami Komahime.”

She then looked to the motionless dragon horn boy whose eyes remained closed.

“And this is Hashiba’s nephew…Lord Hashiba Hidetsugu.”

She continued speaking while standing back up and narrowing her eyes northward, toward the Ariake.

“Lady Komahime recently had a rushed marriage as Lord Hidetsugu’s concubine and the Jurakudai is here so that she might greet Mogami. Lady Komahime and Lord Hidetsugu faced suicide together in their Testament descriptions. …Nations and academies, try not to do anything careless.”

The cannon fire continued and Niwa spoke over the din.

“Now, please continue the festivities.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 36|Chapter 36]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 38|Chapter 38]]
}}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 15

2016-02-25T05:45:31Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 15: Although You Are Not Here */ typo

==Chapter 15: Although You Are Not Here==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0541.png|thumb]]
''You are here

''You are not here

In the depths of the night, a quiet electronic tone rang thrice.

It came from below a large wooden gate.

The gate was located in the center of a fence surrounding a lit home, a woman sat on the curb below the gate, and her wristwatch was beeping.

It was Ryouko.

The quiet beeping of her watch was not enough for the eyes behind her glasses to look down.

She stared up into the dark night sky and let out a white breath.

“Will I be able to end this for myself in another hour?” she muttered. “How should I put it?”

She reached for the paper cup of coffee sitting on the curb next to her.

The coffee had already gone cold and the hand holding it had gone pale, but she still brought it to her mouth.

“Feelings tend to fade with time, but they don’t go away. If you try to create a dividing line with time, things tend not to go well next time.”

As she spoke, the gate opened and a young man in a suit sat to her right.

She turned toward him.

“Kouji.” She glared at him. “Why were you off doing your job and ignoring your sister?”

“You were the one that told me to leave this to you!”

“Yes.” She frowned. “You just don’t understand how girls try to show off. …What would you do if a girl told you to leave things to her in front of several hundred enemies!?”

“I would check her past records, her odds of victory, and her catch phrase to see whether I could leave it to her or not.”

“Wow, that sounded like something a smart person would say! …Become stupid!!”

“It doesn’t really matter, but calm down, sister.”

Ryouko flailed her arms around.

“No, no!! I don’t wanna calm down!!”

“What kind of tantrum is that!?”

“More importantly, what brings you to your sister’s sanctuary?”

“Your sanctuary? This is our front gate.”

“Obviously, everywhere I am automatically becomes a holy site! You really don’t get the elder sister genre, do you!? Is that something pedophiles can’t understand!? Is it!? Daughter of the Takahashi family two houses over! Our Kouji is only interested in girls fourteen or younger, so you’re three years too late!!”

Kouji responded while hearing breaking plates and glass coming from two houses over.

“Please stop spreading nonsense about me! Since when am I a pedophile!?”

“Eh? Y-you actually want me to tell you? Oh, no. My brother really hasn’t noticed!”

Ryouko turned to Pes who had walked over.

“Right, Pes? Everyone knows that, don’t they? If you agree, then sit. …Sit! See, he sat! Even a dog can tell you’re a pedophile! It’s standard knowledge even in the Animal Prefecture recently added to Japan’s forty-three prefectures!!”

“I’m going to completely ignore that second half, but you clearly commanded him to sit!”

“Wh-what are you talking about? All I did was say ‘sit’! That wasn’t a command!”

Kouji sighed.

He faced Pes and spoke in an entirely normal tone of voice to get Pes to stand back up.

“Good boy.”

He waited a few seconds, but Pes would not stand up.

After a few more motionless seconds, Ryouko gave a sudden cheer.

“Yayyy! I win! The animal compassion trial has found you guilty of pedophile justice (fourteen years of hard labor)!”

Kouji grabbed Ryouko’s hand.

“Ah.”

She opened her hand without meaning to and some small reddish-brown objects fell from it.

Pes scooped the few pieces from the ground with his tongue and ate them.

“Sister,” said Kouji. “What kind of woman hides dog food in her clothes in the off chance that she can eventually use it to harass her brother!?”

“This kind right here. …D-don’t tell me you’re denying reality and seeing something completely different!?”

“I will admit there are times when I imagine an ideal sister and find my head drooping.”

“Wow! So imagining me makes you lean forward to hide your body’s reaction!?”

Ryouko blushed and pointed at Kouji with both hands.

“Honestly. If I ignore my feelings, that makes me blush! But if I let my feelings in…y-you scum! Stop relying on your sister for everything!”

“It’s kind of amazing how easily you assume you’re the same as someone else’s ideal.”

Kouji sighed and looked up into the sky.

“Where’s Shino-san?”

“Hm? She isn’t back yet. There was an earthquake earlier, so maybe the trains have stopped.”

The last train of the night had long since passed.

They both knew that, but they discussed it regardless.

“Shino-san promised to buy us drinks…”

“Here.”

Ryouko pulled two drink cans from her pocket.

Kouji took them and looked at Ryouko who refused to look him in the eye.

She continued to look a little higher than straight ahead.

“I got these from Shi-chan. She told me you had taken good care of her. She said you lose a lot of points for being a pedophile, but that there are good hospitals for that so you need to work hard and reform your ways.”

“I’ll ignore that, but I asked her to buy three drinks.”

Ryouko paused before answering her brother.

“I drank the third one, of course. That one was yours.”

“I see.” Kouji stood up. “So Shino-san stopped by?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“I was seeing her off. And that’s gone into extra innings. We’re tied at the top of the eighteenth and I’m trying to keep pitching for the entire game,” she said. “More importantly, has the young master called? It seems like things are a huge mess over in Okutama.”

“He should be at school today and he’ll call if something happens. He wouldn’t die so easily.”

“You sure are carefree.” Ryouko smiled bitterly. “Well, I guess not.”

“I’m just not as serious as you.”

“Sure, sure.”

She rested her head on her hand.

At the same time, a sudden sound came from the sky.

The rumbling immediately moved from the northwest and vanished into the south.

“What was that?” asked Kouji. “It sounded really low to the ground.”

“A bigger one and a much, much bigger one flew by earlier.”

Ryouko let out a white breath and looked up into the black sky.

“Today’s been weird.”

She almost seemed to be reciting the words.

“I hope nothing happens to the young master and Setsu-chan.”

The Aki River ran east to west through southern Akigawa and a residential area was located along a series of windy mountains and forests.

The residential area was built on the northern slope of a mountain.

One of the houses there said “Kazami” out front.

It was a two-story house and there was no car in the garage. The nearby houses were all asleep.

That seemed to be why two people were breaking into the empty Kazami house.

The suspicious pair wore white clothes, the girl stood on the second story balcony, and the boy stood in front of the main entrance.

The suspicious girl commented on the fact that the balcony window had been carelessly left unlocked.

“I wouldn’t expect any less of me. I thought this might happen, so I forgot to lock up”

“If you want to take credit, don’t say you ‘forgot’, Chisato. Besides, you could get up that high with one quick hop using X-Wi.”

“The light would wake up the neighbors. And we’re wearing white, so we’d stand out, Kaku.”

“You’re realistic about the weirdest things.” Izumo sighed. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to head back to the dorm? We wouldn’t even have needed Susamikado to take us here from Okutama.”

“Hm… It’s true waiting in the dorm would be better than getting in everyone’s way as they work to recover in Okutama.” Kazami scratched her head. “But I feel like being at the dorm would bring its own difficulties.”

Down below, Izumo said nothing and Kazami knew he was urging her to continue.

“I mean, if we head back to school, we’d find the schoolyard where Shinjou was hurt and Sayama would be there. I’d feel like we should do something for him or speak with him. I’d just feel like I had to think about too much when it only just happened today…or yesterday I guess.”

Not even twelve hours had passed since Shinjou had been injured.

More and more horrible information had been pouring in for a while and she brought up the worst of them all.

“So Japanese UCAT is gone?”

The location of Japanese UCAT and IAI in the mountains of Okutama had collapsed and work was apparently underway to clear the roads.

Even now, they could hear the distant sounds of helicopters in the air and vehicles on the roads.

It had all been caused by the Leviathan’s main cannon blast.

And…

…''We can’t contact the people who were inside Japanese UCAT.

Japanese UCAT had been destroyed, so that was hardly surprising.

Due to the Leviathan’s information concealing concept, the people inside would not have realized it was approaching.

It was obvious what that meant.

The people in that underground space had been annihilated. Not even a trace of them would remain.

And they had no way of confirming it since they had vanished like that.

“It’s all because we didn’t make it in time.”

“Don’t let all that simmer in your mind too much.”

She nodded at the voice from below, but she could not help but imagine it.

Sibyl, Ooki-sensei, Diana, Harakawa’s mother, and Director Tsukuyomi would all have been there. Ooshiro Itaru and Sf would have as well and there would have been plenty of kind and courageous people whose names she did not know.

“And Shinjou…”

Kazami had heard Sayama’s roar reverberate into the heavens when Shinjou had been injured.

Returning to the dorm had been Sayama’s only option.

What would he do once he realized no one was there?

What would he do once he realized he had not avoided losing her even after she was saved from the life-carving concept?

“—————”

Kazami shook her head.

She knew her thoughts had turned in an odd direction.

She was no different. She had lost something and so had everyone else.

But to her, the day’s entire incident seemed to have begun with Sayama’s roar.

…''I’ve grown a little unsure what exactly it means to feel sorrow.

Should she let out a roar of her own, should she bear with it, or should she simply try to understand it?

She was not sure, so she decided to calm down as Izumo had suggested.

She opened the window in front of her.

“I’m home.”

She gave her pointless greeting and for some reason crouched low and removed her shoes before entering.

The room was dark, but it was her room. Izumo had never actually been inside it.

There was a simple reason for that.

“It’s full of things from before I met him.”

She looked around the dark room, but she relied on her memory more than her sight.

The room was mostly built around the stereo system she had had her father buy her when she entered middle school and the bed she had chosen during elementary school.

She had left the stereo system and bed behind when going off to high school because she had only brought what would fit in her bag and because a strange sense of independence told her she needed to grow up.

She had ultimately transported quite a lot by repeatedly bringing more over in her bag and Izumo had added even more, so things were less clear cut now.

Regardless, this was her foundation, so if she did not find it embarrassing, she felt that meant she had not changed.

“Hey, it’s cold out here!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

She left her room and passed through the small living room on the left to reach the stairway landing. Her father’s study was on the other side.

She switched on the stairway light.

…''Even if the neighbors notice, they won’t suspect anything if I head out and greet them.

She walked over to the entranceway and opened the door. She put on a smile and faced Izumo on the other side of the door.

“Welcome home.”

She added in a flirtatious tone.

“What will it be first? Dinner? A bath? Or…”

Once she got that far, Izumo gave her a beaming smile, and…

“Right in the entranceway!?”

That was rushing things too much, so she attacked with her right fist.

Someone stood in the schoolyard at night.

It was Sayama in his white armored uniform.

The schoolyard was too large to see the other side and the concept space had already been removed.

It was now a normal space containing only the remnants of the year-end festival.

There was a wooden tower in the center and empty festival stands along the edges.

There was no sign of students or anyone else.

…''There are no lights on in the school buildings.

Everyone must have been worn out from the winter Bon festival the night before, so they had all naturally dispersed to return to their resting places.

Sayama looked up into the sky.

He saw a single white contrail leading eastward toward Fussa.

That was the path along which Thunder Fellow had flown.

After taking a look at Okutama, Heo and Harakawa had dropped Sayama off at the school and then left for Yokota.

After dropping him off, Harakawa had told him to get some sleep.

''A good decision,'' thought Sayama. He had not slept for a while, and…

“Shinjou…”

He knew exactly what had happened. Japanese UCAT had been destroyed and everyone inside was gone.

He had seen the Leviathan’s attack with his own eyes.

American UCAT and the other nearby Japanese branches of UCAT had rushed over, but they were mostly making emergency repairs to and checking on the road and crust. It was not yet possible to check for survivors.

It was obvious that Japanese UCAT was lost and there was nothing Sayama and the others could actually do.

Fortunately, UCAT Director Ooshiro had escaped the destruction because he had gone with the others to the battle.

…''He has the luck of a cockroach.

However, that had meant he could immediately contact them with instructions and to explain the situation.

He had given them a simple task after telling them he would contact them next in the morning.

“We are supposed to force ourselves to get some sleep without needlessly visiting the site of the attack.”

Otherwise, they could not put their emotions in order and they could not accept the truth.

And they would not be able to fight.

Yes, fight.

A battle still awaited them.

The Leviathan remained in the sky above Shinjuku, near the center of Tokyo.

The Leviathan had taken a direct hit from the great cannon hidden on the lowest level of Japanese UCAT, but it had not been destroyed.

It had taken such a powerful attack, but it was working to fully heal that injury.

It remained inside a Concept Space. The wide-range concept space production device in the Kanda Laboratory had forcibly grasped the one destroyed by the Leviathan’s attack and guided it into the sky above Shinjuku Station.

The massive concept space covered the eastern half of Tokyo.

The Kanda Laboratory’s personnel had been evacuated and eight duplicate devices were being used to trap the Leviathan.

The reports said it was not moving. It was imprisoned in the concept space, but it was rapidly healing its wounds. It possessed the power of all negative concepts, so it had more than enough power to escape if it wanted to.

Regardless, it remained curled up in the sky above Tokyo and it continued to evolve.

It did not try to move and Sayama knew why.

…''It knows no one here can hope to oppose it.

And…

…''It’s more focused on changing the world than on some puny enemy.

The Leviathan was creating the positive concepts corresponding to the negative concepts.

Once that was complete, it would create a concept to make the world immortal and it would self-destruct.

That powerful dragon would stay where it was and accomplish what it wished to do.

It had easily evolved and recovered from attacks made by Concept Core weapons. Next time, its defenses would be powerful enough to endure a direct hit from G-Sp2’s divine dragon and the Vesper Cannon.

Its speed would surpass all else and its attacks would pierce through anything.

It was a massive weapon worthy of changing the world.

That was the enemy they had to fight.

That was the enemy they had to prepare for.

And that was why Ooshiro had told them to get some sleep.

Harakawa had told him to do the same thing.

“But…will I be able to sleep?”

Sayama looked to the school building.

“When I wake up, won’t the destruction of Japanese UCAT be confirmed and won’t I be forced to accept everything that has happened? …I am still not ready for that.”

He took a breath.

“I am not ready to accept that nothing remains of Shinjou-kun.”

He faced forward. As he walked toward the school building, he turned his gaze to his surroundings.

“Ahh,” he muttered. “Someone…”

His voice was swept away by the wind.

“Isn’t someone still having a festival? Can’t someone distract me?”

He continued walking through the abandoned field.

“It hurts.”

He squeezed out his voice and held his chest with his right hand.

“It hurts knowing you are nowhere to be found, Shinjou-kun.”

A festival was underway below the night sky.

A giant form floated three thousand meters above Shinjuku Station.

It curled up as if asleep and looked down on the festival below.

The festival was the night scenery of the city.

It was early morning on Christmas Eve. Lights filled the city around the station. The roundabout and arcade were decorated with a tree and lights.

Winter break had begun for the students and not many people were visible on the streets, but a lot of the homes had lights on in their windows and a lot of people were still visible in the windows of family-oriented restaurants.

However, all of the people were only pale, transparent blue shadows.

They were only shadows of the outside world visible in the concept space.

The form looking down on them was a fifteen kilometer dragon.

Its body would stretch from Shinjuku to Mitaka, but it was curled up in a space of five kilometers by five kilometers.

Its six wings were wrapped around itself and two people stood on its lowered head.

These people were more than shadows.

One was a girl wearing a black armored uniform and the other was an automaton with twelve pure white wings.

The automaton pointed to the southeast.

“Mikoku-sama, what are those lights? Over.”

Mikoku looked to the light in the distance.

“That is…Tokyo Tower. You should know that. You have a map in your head.”

“This is my first time seeing Low-Gear’s Tokyo. Over.”

“I am not all that familiar with Low-Gear’s scenery either.”

“It is pretty. Over.”

“Yes,” agreed Mikoku.

She sat on the Leviathan’s head, lightly tapped its armor with her palm, and looked to Noah.

“Are you sure you want to do this? …If you create a world, you will disappear, too. You, me, and this world will disappear and then be brought back to life.”

“But I have only one joy. Over.”

Noah spoke as Mikoku watched.

“The new world is my only desire. Over.”

“I see.”

Mikoku nodded and lowered her gaze.

A glass cage had formed on the Leviathan’s head.

“The ejection point for the concept extraction…”

The Leviathan had been made new through evolution. Just like its main cannon, this device used all of the channels in its body to focus its power on a single point.

A girl was inside the cage.

She wore white clothing and floated within dark blue light.

“Shino-sama,” said Noah. “She will be the first brought back to life. So…”

Noah searched for the right words.

“Do not worry, Mikoku-sama. Over.”

“Right.”

Mikoku nodded and looked down at the brightly-lit false city. It was filled with the lights of a festival.

“You will finish creating the positive concepts tomorrow, on the twenty-fifth. All we can do is wait until then for the new world.”

“Is waiting that much trouble? Over.”

“I will be fine. I can distract myself by watching the festival.”

“Really?” asked Noah without forgetting to add “over”.

After a moment, she gave a hesitating suggestion.

“Would you like to play shiritori? Over.”

“Shiritori? …Oh, we did used to play that, didn’t we? You still want to do that?”

“Testament,” replied Noah. “My creator taught me that game. Over.”

Noah spoke quietly to Mikoku.

“Everyone was so kind. Over.”

Sayama was in the dark Kinugasa Library.

He had considered returning to the dorm, but his feet had taken him to the library as he passed the school building.

He had somewhat set the dorm as his final destination.

That was where he had the most memories.

If he went there right away, he felt like he would be crushed under the weight of those memories.

He had decided to ease himself into his memories.

He recalled the past as he walked.

He thought back to the spring. Whenever he had gone to sleep, Shinjou would climb up onto his bed to wake him. Some accidents had occurred and he had ended up seeing her butt and pulling on her underwear.

He had not quite known if she was Setsu or Sadame at the time, so on a few occasions, he had considered pulling down her underwear as she slept or focused his mind in the off chance he had awoken to the psychic power to see through her underwear.

Unfortunately, his training had been insufficient and Shinjou had confessed before his powers had manifested.

…''That takes me back.

A lot had happened during the summer and fall too, but he decided to immerse himself in those memories once he returned to the dorm. Still, he did remember how abnormally cute she had been at the end of summer when she had tried on her swimsuit one last time before putting it away for the year. She had even posed in front of the mirror.

Watching her from hiding had truly warmed his heart. She had knocked him to the ground once she noticed him, of course.

…''That really does take me back.

He then realized he would never be able to touch her again.

“Shinjou-kun…”

…''Could I imagine this library wall is Shinjou-kun?

He tried touching it. He placed his hand on the concrete wall and imagined the roundness.

“Shinjou-kun!”

He tried for three seconds before giving up. It was no use. Imagination was not an adequate substitute for some things. Especially when his impatience had led him to overlook the elementary fact that concrete was hard and cold.

…''I really should have made a plaster mold of her.

''Was some sixth sense at work when I felt the need to do that?'' he wondered.

Suddenly, he realized he was alone in the library.

“…”

He fell silent and sat in a nearby chair.

The day before last, they had held a meeting and trial in the library and Shinjou had rushed in at the very last moment to save him.

''That was the very opposite of the situation during the Army’s attack,'' he thought.

“I really do think the two of us are well-balanced opposites,” he muttered. “I am so serious, pure, and moral, but you still find a way to naturally seduce me. It was wonderful how you would cheer me on even as I lost myself in your charm.”

He sighed and looked up to the ceiling.

He decided he would head to their classroom, leave through the emergency exit, and then maybe visit the cafeteria before returning to the dorm.

He removed Georgius from his left hand, spread his fingers, and looked to the ring there.

Shinjou had placed it there the day before last.

It was the final thing she had given him that had a physical form.

His gaze dropped to Georgius.

“I wish I could have told you that Georgius’s will was based on your father.”

He removed the other Georgius as well, placed them both on the desk in front of him, and finally lowered his head.

“Father, I am sorry.”

He kept his head lowered for a full five seconds, breathed in, and looked back up.

He took both Georgiuses and stood up within the empty library.

But suddenly…

“?”

He spotted a certain color in the dark library.

That color was white.

It was sitting on a desk in the area designated as a rest area.

“A stack of paper?”

He remembered the day before when Shinjou had told him to wait and he remembered what she had been doing.

…''Her novel.

He ran over on reflex.

His leg slammed into a chair he had overlooked and his swinging arm collided with a desk in the darkness, but he did not even feel the pain.

“Shinjou-kun!!”

He arrived at the desk and grabbed the stack in both hands.

He grabbed what Shinjou had created and left here.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_14|Chapter 14]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_16|Chapter 16]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Clash of Hexennacht:Volume2 Chapter 3

2016-02-23T15:32:25Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 3: When the Current of the World… */ typo

==Chapter 3: When the Current of the World…==
[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_089.jpg|thumb]]
''Gathers in the world, the world begins

The second term began.

Quite a bit of summer heat remained and the clouds were still sparse in the sky yet had not taken their scattered form for autumn. Those white clouds formed a barrier as they welled up from below and cut into the wind, but the faint shape of the white moon could be seen in the blue sky beyond them.

One could look up at that moon from two kinds of places.

The first was a wide-open place.

The second was a tall place.

One spot had both: Tokyo Bay.

A facility covered a wide area on an artificial island built in the center of that bay.

It was a school. A high school. The buildings in the four cardinal directions were school buildings for the different division and their dorms. The name on the sign was Shihouin Academy.

A two-story dining hall was located to the northwest of the campus.

It was a glass-sided building, but someone was looking up into the midday moon from the terrace on the roof.

Tables and chairs were prepared across the terrace and three people sat at one of the central tables. The students at the other tables a short distance away were giving them curious looks.

“What did you do this time, Horinouchi?”

“I-it wasn’t me. I’m betting this is about Hunter returning on a fighter jet last night.”

“Everyone knows I always do that, so it wouldn’t gather any attention. Maybe Kagami is still standing out a little.”

“No, I am a perfectly normal person who cannot even use much magic. …So what did you do this time, Horinouchi?”

“I already said I didn’t do anything. Stop pushing on that topic.”

Hunter was the one to hold out her palms and tell them to calm down. Then she looked around.

“I bet I know what it is. The Rank 4 and some strange girl clashed just before summer break. Then they formed a buddy group, challenged the #3 and took her place. And after summer break, all three of them are eating lunch together. How could that ''not'' gather attention?” Hunter looked to the other two. “How is the General Division viewing this?”

''That’s a good question,'' thought Horinouchi.

The sunshine was a little bright, so she placed a large sunblock spell overhead and lightly spun it around to shade the three of them like a parasol.

“Kagami has been telling the story and exaggerating to make things more exciting, so everyone’s kind of accepted it in a weird way.”

“For example?”

“Remember how she pursued you after you vanished off of the American coast?”

“Oh, yeah. So they’ve all been exposed to the insane story of a crazy person shooting another crazy person who used the power of that shot to accelerate?”

“Yes, but in the version of the story spreading through the General Division, a pod of dolphins told Kagami which way you had gone.”

“Dolphins?”

“Yes.”

Horinouchi could only nod, but Kagami turned toward them, looking taken aback.

“You have that all wrong, Horinouchi. …There was a pure white dolphin in the middle of the pod!!”

“Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating!?”

“Ha ha ha. I do not know if they are all very trusting or if they just like getting worked up over that kind of thing, but I appreciate it.”

But that was not all.

“I’ll omit most of it, but in the version of the story going around, your karate uniform tore when you were defeated. And after we reconciled our differences, you shouted ‘Ahh, you can see my skin! How shameful!’, so Kagami lent you her coat.”

“Don’t drag me into it! I’m not that kind of character!”

“Come to think of it, how does the Special Equipment Division view that Ranker battle?”

“Eh?” said Hunter as she looked up into the sky and seemed to stare at something.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

“It’s not that. You know how there’s always room for improvements with machines, right? Well, no one wants to deal with complaints, but if there’s an improvement you can make, you want to do it, right?”

“So you’ve all gathered together to improve your equipment?”

“Everyone kept showing up asking about when I lost, so it was kind of discouraging. But I gradually managed to calm down some and figured out what I’d done wrong.”

''Yes, I suppose Hunter was the victim this time,'' thought Horinouchi as she took a sip of the iced tea on the table.

And there was something else she needed to ask now.

“The second term has begun and Hexennacht is coming up at the end of October, so I’d like to move on to the next Ranker battle soon.”

“Indeed,” said Kagami. “Even if the battle with the Black Witch is not until the end of October, we still have to work with and cooperate with the other organizations preparing for that battle. Each nation needs to be preparing for both the possibility of winning Hexennacht and the possibility of losing it. We only have our battles with the Rank 2 and Rank 1 left, but if we do not settle that this month or early next month, we might be stopped by interference from elsewhere.”

“I think the headmaster will announce the end of the Ranker battles around the end of September. If we knew the exact date now, some people would probably begin fighting more fiercely as it approached, but the headmaster wants to see our skill during normal conditions.”

“Have any lower ranked challengers come to you, Hunter?”

“Oh, one from the Special Equipment Division did, but we settled that inside our building the night before last.”

“That was fast.”

“Well, yeah.” Hunter smiled bitterly. “It was really more of a test for my Hedgehog now that it’s been fixed. I couldn’t summon the Magino Frame since we did it indoors, but I smashed up the hallway and classroom pretty bad. But now that they know I’m still a force to be reckoned with, I doubt any others will try to push their way up any time soon. More importantly…”

Hunter looked at both Horinouchi and Kagami before looking to the witches surrounding them at a distance.

“If you two move up to Rank 2, I’ll have an easier time dealing with the lower ranked witches. I’ll be able to work with the former Rank 2 to act as a shield.”

Horinouchi was briefly confused by Hunter’s words.

“Why are you willing to go that far?”

“To be blunt, we do not mind at all if you want a rematch.”

Hunter kept her eyes on their surroundings and reached for her glass on the table.

“With a Frame on the Hedgehog’s scale, the damage from a single battle can take a lot of time to repair.”

“Meaning…?”

“I didn’t expect to have it completely destroyed in the battle against you two. If I fought you again now, I wouldn’t have enough time left to take on the Rank 2 and 1 afterwards.”

“Do you regret fighting us?” asked Kagami.

“You’re the ones that challenged me, aren’t you? I tried to crush Kagami first in a preemptive strike, and I still think that was the right decision. If the two of you had taken the fight to me, it would have been like starting from the situation off of Brazil in our second battle. My odds of victory would’ve been even lower then.”

Now that the girl mentioned it, Horinouchi had a feeling that was indeed how it would have turned out.

“So,” said Hunter with an exasperated glare. “My advantage had completely evaporated once you two met up off of Brazil.”

“You sound like you have something to say.”

“Normally, people don’t just recover from damage and injuries like that.”

“Well, that is just how excellent my Dikaio is.”

Kagami produced the dragon child from a spell circle. It had no idea what was going on and simply looked around worriedly. Meanwhile, Suzaku appeared on Horinouchi’s shoulder and began performing shadow Muay Thai as if to threaten the other servant, so was it really a divine beast?

Hunter leaned back in her seat as if to say “anyway”.

“So you’re going to challenge the #2, right?”

“We have no other choice.”

“I see,” said Hunter, so Horinouchi asked her something.

“Do you know something about the #2?”

“Well,” said Hunter as she looked up into the sky. “Can I order something?”

“We still have fifth period, so try to avoid anything that will get your hands dirty.”

“A rib sandwich it is, then.”

“You really do like meat, don’t you?”

Hunter ignored Horinouchi while linking a spell circle to the dining hall application and placing an order.

…''Oh, they have their seasonal menu out. Chestnuts, hm? No, thanks. I’m trying to fill my stomach here.

“Umm, does anyone want a dessert?”

“I’ll take whatever you’re having.”

“That’ll be a fried pork tenderloin sandwich.”

“How is that a dessert!?”

“It’s a secondary meat.”

She confirmed the order. The bill was transmitted to her spell circle, so she passed it over to Kagami while getting back on topic.

“The #2 is a foreigner from some other country.”

“You’re a foreigner too, aren’t you?”

“Oh, well, yes.”

…''If she’s not from the US either, then she’s a foreigner to me too!

It was a mystery whether Shinto people just viewed everything from a Japanese perspective or if Horinouchi was viewing her as one of her own.

However, Hunter did not understand everything about this either.

“The thing about the #2 witch is…she’s an absolute single.”

“I’ve heard that too,” agreed Horinouchi.

…''Then I guess Kagami is the only one who doesn’t know anything.

She decided to think of this exchange of information as being for Kagami’s sake. For Horinouchi, this would only be supplementing her information. ''In that case,'' thought Hunter, but then Kagami asked a question.

“What do you mean by an absolute single?”

“She isn’t supported by a nation like I am, but she fights using a vast pool of spell power. I guess you could call it the ultra-orthodox route.”

“What do we know about her abilities?” asked Kagami.

Hunter looked to Horinouchi. However…

“————”

The shrine maiden shook her head.

There was a reason that response made sense to Hunter.

“I don’t know that much either. Barely anything is known about the #2.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, how much information did you have on my Hedgehog, Horinouchi?”

“Well…”

Horinouchi trailed off, but finally continued.

“That it was supported by the US military, that it had extremely thick armor, and that it had a sharpshooting ability rivaling my own. I also knew you used American karate. …I think that covers it.”

“High Rankers didn’t end up in their position because they lost to someone. The position is usually decided by their grades up to that point. That’s why high Rankers generally don’t know much about each other’s abilities. And the witches that lose to them don’t reveal much information about them.”

“So they can be the ones to defeat them in a rematch?”

“That’s right.” Hunter simply nodded. “If they leak the information, the witch that’s risen above them will receive a concentrated attack from the other witches and be defeated. However, that won’t increase their own rank. They lost to that higher Ranker, so they’re stuck below them. And since the witch who does defeat them will move up, their rank will even drop.”

“That is why witches like to fight where no one can see them and why they don’t like revealing what happened in those battles.”

“That made the barrage of questioning to improve my Hedgehog all the more painful,” said Hunter. “Oh, and revealing my information acts as a show of force for America, so mine is actually pretty well known. Horinouchi, you don’t hide much of yours either, do you?”

“To rise within the General Division and for my duties as student council president, I have to remain more diplomatic. Also, I personally find it to be unfair, so I dislike hiding things.”

“Actually, would there be any point in hiding your information?”

“What do you mean?”

When she was asked that, Hunter could only turn to Kagami who turned to face her as well.

“Hunter, as someone who has experienced it firsthand, it is your duty to tell her.”

“Okay...”

She decided she might as well.

“When all you do is attack, attack, attack, there’s no point in hiding anything.”

“Yes, Manko has a lot of brute strength.”

“I-I have decent speed too, you know!?”

“Isn’t that more thanks to that strange creature on your shoulder?”

“Since the Suzaku guarantees her speed, she probably focuses entirely on attack,” added Kagami.

“W-what does it matter? And it’s fine if everyone knows by this point.”

Horinouchi then asked a question.

“Um, in that case, what about the #1? Do you know anything, Hunter?”

She was skipping past the #2 to the #1.

Hunter thought the girl was getting ahead of herself, but she could answer this one. After all…

“I don’t know a thing.”

Yes. She did not know anything and that was why she could answer.

“All of the previous #2 witches dropped in the ranks after losing to her and she’s been in that top spot for ten years now. Everyone who loses to her won’t say a word about her identity. From what I’ve heard, the current #2 got the spot due to her grades after the previous one dropped down.”

“So this one is a secret too?”

“Well, according to the rumors I’ve heard, she hides her face behind a mask and is completely overwhelming.”

Those three and all the witches around them exchanged a glance at that one.

They seemed to be searching among themselves and their gazes finally stopped on a witch from Polynesia who was wearing a giant witch doctor mask.

She quickly began waving her hands back and forth.

“No, I’m from the General Division.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s right!”

“And the witch doctor shaman style is slow to get started, so there aren’t any in the top Rankers, right?”

“Is it true you don’t wear any clothes back home!?”

Their excitement showed the amazing depth and breadth of the world of witches.

At any rate, the #1 did not seem to be here.

…''She’s the top of the Honors Division and the Honors Division itself is pretty much a giant secret itself.

It was for the specialized people who could call themselves witches based on their individual power without being tied down to an existing style of witch.

Due to their specialization, they were incredibly powerful against anyone who had never seen them before. But information on those techniques would leak out after a few battles.

Once that happened, a group countermeasure would be more powerful. Due to their specialization, their system was theirs alone. Since they would have to take on that group countermeasure on their own, they statistically tended to lose any rematches.

However, one of them had held onto the top position for a very long time. And…

“I’ve heard no one has ever challenged the #1 to a rematch.”

“So they’re all that utterly defeated?”

“I don’t know, but those are the facts. …And the US has decided that’s one thing that has guided the previous generation of witches to retire over the past ten years. In other words…”

Kagami took over from there.

“For the past ten years, some witches who have graduated as students continue on as Rankers, but one thing that leads them to retire as Rankers is to challenge the #1? Is that what you are saying? So the #1 tells them through defeat that they should retire, even though they have reached the peak of their skills?” asked Kagami. “Then we should sense danger in facing this #1.”

“Yes, you-…”

Just as Hunter began to respond, she swallowed the words.

…''This is…

Before she could think “dangerous”, her left forearm shot up.

“Summon Hedgehog!”

Kagami saw a shield.

It was a five meter Normal Device and it was a shape she had seen a lot recently.

“The Hedgehog?”

However, Hunter was looking to the terrace’s entrance while blocking Kagami’s view with the Hedgehog.

She was likely protecting her from something there, but…

“Hunter, what is-…?”

“Don’t try to peek!”

Hunter scolded her. Wondering what was going on, she looked to Horinouchi.

“Kagami, can you sense things using ether?”

“Just to make sure, you have not forgotten where I am from, have you? It is a peaceful world where talking about ether will only get you blank stares in return. No one suddenly shouts ‘Killer intent…!?’ in the middle of the city before moving back three meters.”

“W-well sorry for being weird, but that’s what’s happening here!”

“Oh, that is wonderful, Hunter. Now, whose killer intent is it? And I probably should not ask something like this out of curiosity, but what does killer intent feel like? Is it a tickling on the back of your neck? Does your vision grow distorted? Do you hear a strange musical note? Oops, I asked out of curiosity anyway. …So what exactly are you doing?”

“Kagami… Hunter isn’t doing this because she’s sick in the head. She’s trying to be nice.”

“Th-that kind of help hurts most of all!” shouted Hunter.

Hunter looked past the shield.

The other witches were also looking beyond the Hedgehog.

That seemed to be why she lifted up the shield.

She had not summoned her Form and the movement of her left arm raised the shield pile so its muzzle pointed straight forward.

Kagami looked forward with the Hedgehog raised overhead like an umbrella.

She heard the other witches speaking behind her.

“It’s really her…”

In that case, the person facing them was probably quite well known.

“I am a third year in the Spell Division as well as the Rank 2.”

The voice from directly ahead was more dignified than calm.

“I am Mary Sue.”

Horinouchi recognized the girl.

…''Black and white.

Her clothing was almost entirely black. She wore a black summer sweater over her uniform instead of the standard coat and her skirt was black too. The socks that rose to the top of her thighs were black with defensive emblems woven in. She wore gloves even though it was summer and they too were black.

…''That makes the white of her hair stand out even more.

She was tall and the black outfit made her look all the sharper for it.

“That’s…”

“You know who she is, Horinouchi!?” asked Kagami.

“Yes.”

At that moment, someone else stepped up to the side of the table. They had come from the dining hall with a rib sandwich and two fried pork tenderloin sandwiches and they served the plates from a tray.

“She is Lady Mary Sue, the Spell Division’s ace who is also known as ‘The Hitman’.”

“Koutarou!? When did you show up!?”

Koutarou bowed and began providing them with fresh iced teas.

[[Image:Hexennacht_v02_107.jpg|thumb]]

“I am holding negotiations with this dining hall.”

''Do you mean you’re working part-time?'' she wondered, but she left it unsaid.

“I would expect no less from you, Koutarou,” said Kagami while accepting her new glass. “Now, about that girl…”

Kagami indicated the girl named Mary who was standing with her heels together. She was clearly facing Horinouchi, but she bowed without looking her in the eye.

“Miss Horinouchi,” she said in her dignified voice. “Congratulations on your promotion to Rank 3. As you now have the right to challenge me, I will go ahead and designate you in advance.”

Horinouchi moved her heels a little forward and placed them on the floor so she could move at any time.

Hunter also lowered her hips down in her chair.

Kagami calmly drank her tea, but that was just the kind of person she was.

“You want to…fight us?”

“It would seem so,” said Kagami. “Such a strange person, picking a fight with someone ranked lower than her.”

“Hey.”

“Kagami, sometimes people just feel like doing something crazy like that.”

“Hold it, you two.”

“I see, Horinouchi. I suppose people cannot always make rational decisions with Hexennacht so close.”

“If you’ve got something to say to me, at least face me.”

“How about I order you a teriyaki burger, Hunter?”

“All is forgiven.”

That seemed to be how that worked.

Horinouchi had said “us” as a test, but she could not see Mary’s expression since the girl’s head was still bowed. In fact, Horinouchi started feeling bad for chatting like that while the girl kept her head lowered.

But then she heard a voice.

It was Mary’s.

“There is something I would like to do before fighting the #1.”

There was no change in her tone of voice as she spoke toward the floor.

“What is-…?”

Before Horinouchi could ask her question, Mary raised her head.

She had a slight smile on her lips.

Her short hair was briefly lifted toward the sky and ether light scattered around her.

She most likely had a defensive or bodily reinforcement divine protection active at all times.

However, Mary lowered her head for another bow.

“Goodbye.”

She did not intend to answer Horinouchi’s question.

She turned around and the surrounding witches opened a path.

…''That was well done.

Horinouchi thought on Mary’s behavior and the movements of the surrounding witches.

…''She understands her position.

She was Rank 2. If anyone challenged her and won, they would gain that position.

Even if it was forceful, would anyone really overlook that opportunity with Hexennacht so close? But…

“To be a witch truly is to be a technician and witches themselves are the result of that work.”

The leaving girl was already a fair distance away. Kagami spoke while observing Mary’s steady but not swift pace.

“When seeing a glass and its quality, no one can help but imagine how it was made. And no one will think of pouring an unbefitting drink into it. Such excellent pride.”

“Well said,” said Hunter as she let the Hedgehog disperse.

The amount of ether light left behind was far more than one would have imagined from its original size, so the surrounding witches responded in surprise.

“So? What’re you going to do?”

“Good question.”

A Ranker battle was exactly what they wanted, but…

“Can you look into her abilities and history, Koutarou?”

“Yes, I can do as much as I can, milady.”

“Did you look into me like that, Horinouchi?”

“You attacked us before we could.”

“Do not forget that I was the one that defended against that.”

Why did Kagami feel the need to assert herself there? But…

“So what would you have done if you had looked into me?”

“Well…”

As Horinouchi thought, she saw Hunter and Kagami whispering to each other.

“What are you saying, Hunter? She would end up shooting like crazy either way.”

“Yeah, is there any point in her looking into anything?”

“H-hold it! Don’t treat me like I’m a human cannon!”

''Then again, that is what happened off the coast of Brazil.

Koutarou was in a bit of a hurry after that.

When a higher Ranker challenged a lower Ranker to a Ranker battle, the lower ranked one could not refuse. If Mary Sue challenged them, they would have to respond no matter when or where it was.

So if possible, he wanted to have some amount of information by the end of school that day. After all, it was possible Mary Sue would attack them on the way back from school.

But Mary was from the Spell Division.

Since ancient times, most witches were made to take classes in that division.

They were “made to” because those who did not already have the techniques would still have to learn the ancient witch techniques there. Students from other division would go there for special lessons and many people learned in the library and classrooms there.

…''The Spell Division would have been the standard route for Lady Mitsuru when joining the school.

After all, she was the representative of Japanese Shinto. That made her a representative of an entire faction of witches.

However, he knew why Horinouchi had chosen the General Division.

Her mother Mitsuyo had gone to Shihouin Academy and had been in the General Division. Of course, Japan had not had a school that specialized in facing Hexennacht back then.

However, her mother had competed with the other witches there who had been formidable foes indeed and she had gained trustworthy comrades there. In that way, joining the General Division was something of a “jinx” for Horinouchi.

Cerisier, the headmaster and one of the Three Sages, had allowed it.

And now she had comrades in Kagami and Hunter, so she was doing quite well. However…

“Excuse me!”

Koutarou knew a way of acquiring the necessary information on short notice.

Information had a way of gathering where witches gathered. So…

“Horinouchi Maid Squad, please give me the information I need to help Lady Mitsuru!!”

…''This prostration is quite cool, everyone.

In the Head Maid’s opinion, the Horinouchi Maid Squad could rival an army.

After all, about five percent of the witches that graduated Shihouin Academy and retired as Rankers ended up there. Most of them joined because “going home would be a pain”, but they most likely had a different real reason.

The Horinouchi Family contained one of the Three Sages, it was the Shinto representative, the daughter of the family was quite skilled, and…

“Probably the biggest reason is that we do not ask about their past as far as battles are concerned.”

The Horinouchi mansion was a three-story building on a hill in the center of a nature park in Shinagawa. Tokyo Bay and Shihouin Academy could be seen from there and it was the Horinouchi family’s base.

Currently, someone was prostrating in front of the maids cleaning the central entrance hall.

It was the Head Butler.

His combat abilities were honestly quite low, but more importantly…

“I will commend your dedication to serving Lady Mitsuru. As well as your recognition that, as a whole, we are the best for this job.”

“Can’t you go one step further!?”

“But this concerns our past battles.”

“Yes,” said a voice from the hall’s staircase. A maid there held a long feather duster. She sat on the railing and looked down at the others.

“I believe she is the one I had a Ranker battle with last year. I think that was when she moved up into the top fifty. I retired afterwards, though.”

“Be quiet. We need a little more before we can give him our information.”

A single glance and the maid moved back.

The prostrating head was sinking into the carpet in front of the Head Maid. It was an excellent prostration.

And she did understand why he was in such a hurry.

“Listen. We complete our daily work and have many feelings for Lady Mitsuru, but we simply wish to be involved in Hexennacht, Head Butler. If we are to step up onto the stage, it will be on Hexennacht. We will fill the gaps in the battlefield that U.A.H. cannot fill and we will make sure this land Lady Mitsuyo protected will be passed onto the next generation. Our pasts are only to be used to support Lady Mitsuru. Besides,” she said. “What would you do if we told you about the #2 now?”

“I would be able to provide commentary for Lady Mitsuru!”

“That is not enough.” The Head Maid kneeled down and spoke down toward the Head Butler. “You must pass the information onto her so she understands it herself. We do not want to hear you providing commentary. It is when Lady Mitsuru provides commentary that we can exclaim, ‘Well done, milady!’ If it is to that end, then we will provide you with the information.”

…''I sure ate a lot at lunch.

Hunter heard the afterschool bell as she left the Special Equipment Division building and made her way to another building: the General Division dorm.

After what had happened at lunch, they had arranged to hold a strategy meeting.

The Special Equipment Division building was on Shihouin Academy’s west side and the General Division dorm was on the southeast side.

“It’d be faster to cut through the courtyard.”

With that decided, she rushed along.

She saw the General Division dorm a lot. It was located near the school’s main gate on the south and she often saw it as a “pretty building” when returning by air as she was wont to do.

The Special Equipment Division dorm was simple and sturdy for a dorm and its exterior looked a lot like a factory, so the Special Equipment Division students often commented on the design of the overhanging upper floors of the General Division dorm.

Then again, they were usually dangerous comments along the lines of, “I bet the whole thing would come crumbling down if I destroyed that part”. Still, it was fun getting to actually go inside it. ''It’s all about having connections,'' she thought as she cut through the forested courtyard and to the central pathway.

She decided to follow that to the southern loop, but…

“Oh.”

She spotted a familiar face to the north which was on her left.

It was someone she felt like she had only just met.

“Hey, there.”

A tall figure in black stood on the courtyard’s central pathway.

“Mary Sue, do you need me for something?”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Clash_of_Hexennacht:Volume2_Chapter_4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 10

2016-02-22T03:07:24Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 10: Where the Wind Judges */ typo

==Chapter 10: Where the Wind Judges==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0359.png|thumb]]
''People are an animal that looks up to the sky

''So that providence might infinitely fill the space beyond

A pair of eyes looked outside from an elevated place.

They looked out from near the center of a tall tower rising into the sky.

The transparent wall there was far higher than the mountain range below.

The inner side of that wall was a floor and a girl stood perpendicular to that surface.

She wore a black armored uniform and she was facing left, toward the ground.

Small flashes of light were visible on the earth, in the forests, among the mountains, and atop the hills.

They were sparks.

This view of the flames of war could only be seen from an overhead vantage point.

After a single nod, the girl stopped watching and closed her eyes a little.

“So the conclusion is still ongoing.”

She turned around to face a single facility wrapped in bluish-white light.

It was a church.

The window she stood by was at the back of the church. The window brought in light next to the extractor that resembled a pulpit.

An open aisle led away from the front of the pulpit and something rose up from the ground along the left and right like rows of pews.

They were actually cylindrical storage pallets forty meters long each.

There were ten on either side and, to preserve space, they were angled to form a V-shape with the aisle in the center.

The ten on the left contained a red Gear mark and the ten on the right contained a blue Gear mark.

There was stained glass above the storage pallets.

There were ten windows full of it.

They began with the creation of the world, told of the tower of words, and praised the birth of the holy one.

Starting from the entrance, nine of the stained glass windows were glowing.

A few smaller panes of colored glass were positioned between the main windows, but only three of them were yet to be lit.

The light was approaching the stepped floor and the pulpit.

A white bell was located at the ceiling above the pulpit and a girl lay below the pulpit.

“Shino,” said the girl by the window. “Not long until I bring you back to life.”

She took a step toward the other girl and another small pane of glass lit overhead, leaving only two.

“Not long…not long until I change the world!”

As soon as she said that, another voice filled the large church.

“That is something I cannot allow.”

The girl turned toward the voice.

Someone in a white armored uniform stood in the church entrance leading to a dark corridor.

It was a boy with a sharp look in his eyes.

She stared at him and spoke.

“So you are here, Sayama Mikoto.”

“Yes,” he replied. “I am, Toda Mikoku.”

Sayama breathed in before continuing.

“I am here to beat that willpower out of you.”

Sayama heard Mikoku break the church’s stillness with a quiet breath that was almost a laugh.

Her voice soon followed.

“The world will be changed in another three minutes. Top-Gear was unable to create a concept even after everything they did, but now that Noah is in Low-Gear, it takes only a single command. How ironic.”

“Are you creating a philosopher’s stone containing a resurrection concept?” asked Sayama.

The surrounding stained glass located high on the walls showed him the facility’s progress.

The only ones not lit were a single large window and two small panes.

A moment passed and one more small pane lit up.

At the same time, Sayama set the timer on his wristwatch to ring continuously just before reaching the one minute mark.

When he looked back up, he saw Mikoku looking up at the light.

“Three more minutes. …That is all the time left until the world grows so much richer.”

Sayama replied clearly to Mikoku’s expressionless words.

“It will not grow richer.”

“Why not?”

…''You do not know?

“It will simply be a world with no rest. It will lose the slumber of death, after all.”

Mikoku’s expression changed slightly at that.

She frowned and looked back at him.

“Do you understand what it means to lose something?”

He did not answer her question.

He replied in a different way.

“If it were me, I would create a different concept. I would provide the world with something much more useful.”

“Namely?”

He announced the first word that came to mind.

“Eroundism.”

Mikoku froze in place.

''That was indeed a shocking word,'' he thought when he saw her motionlessness.

…''Yes, even I am feeling a little shaken by it.

''I only said it on a whim, but that is actually an amazing idea.

''The entire world would become Shinjou-kun.

''But what would happen to me?

''No, wait. Would that mean it would feel just like Shinjou-kun if I touched my own butt?

…''Would it be a divine gift of self-sufficiency!?

''I do not know. I cannot know what would happen to the world or myself until I tried it.

''But if I was going to create concept, that would definitely be a worth a try.

He gulped, and…

“Move out of the way. It is my turn now.”

“Calm down!” shouted Mikoku as she stood in front of the extractor to block his way. “I have not finished my turn yet!”

“I see.”

Sayama nodded and started to think about what kind of concept he would need to create to turn the world into Shinjou.

“Then I will wait.”

“You are going to wait!?”

That question reminded him of something.

…''Come to think of it…

He pulled out his cellphone and pressed a button.

“It is I.”

“Wh-what do you need right now, Sayama!? I’m a little busy!!”

The phone replied with Kazami’s voice as well as sounds of impact and cannon fire.

''I suppose I should ask this,'' he thought ahead of his question.

“Are you fighting?”

“Of course I am! Do you want me to come kick your ass!? How about you just die!?”

“Ha ha ha. If I died, there would be no one left to stop the world from changing.”

She hung up on him, so he frowned and stared at the silent phone.

“That girl lives on nothing but excitement. Honestly, now.”

He placed the phone back in his pocket and turned his eyes toward Mikoku.

“Unfortunately, I cannot simply wait when the commoners are all fighting.”

“Are you sure?’

“Am I sure about what?”

Mikoku took a step away from the extractor and toward him.

Gentle footsteps sounded as she continued to walk.

“If you let me create my concept…you can take back Shinjou even if she does die.”

“Thank you for that meaningless offer based on our overlapping time limits.”

He stripped all emotion from his heart with a sigh as he spoke.

“I will beat you down.”

“Are you sure? When you get back, you are only going to learn that Shinjou has died.”

“Not to worry. If I win, she will be so moved that she is sure to come back to life.”

After clearing his emotions, he pounded a single element in their place.

He filled himself with a façade of strength.

…''Yes, a show of strength is all that matters.

So he spoke.

“Not to worry. Not to worry in the slightest. After all…”

He continued.

“Shinjou-kun will be wonderful even as a corpse.”

“That is an insane thing to say.”

“And that is a far-too-normal rebuttal.”

He reached into his pocket as he answered her and pulled out some papers.

It was a collection of acceleration and defense charms.

“————”

He took a defensive stance, stared at Mikoku as she approached, and breathed in.

In response, Mikoku stopped ten meters away.

Just like he had reached into his pocket, she reached both hands behind her back.

She pulled something from the mounts on the back of the armored uniform.

“I created these swords as practice for the concept creation.”

The two swords were fairly short with a blade length of about sixty centimeters.

The hilts were nothing more than cloth wrapped around the bottom of the blade.

However, there was something clearly different about these blades.

The right one was blue and the left one was red.

…''Is that…?

Sayama frowned and Mikoku smiled with the twin swords in hand. Her eyebrows rose as she smiled.

“These are philosopher’s stone swords. They use exactly the concepts you can see here.”

She pointed left and right with the swords.

“Inferior copies of every positive concept and of every negative concept were packed into these swords.”

Sayama’s frown deepened when he heard that.

…''That is not good.

He raised the hand holding the charms.

“Do you intend to wield every world as you fight?”

“No. …You remember what we learned at the meeting, don’t you? Top-Gear is the highest Gear but also a copy of every other Gear. So…”

She prepared the two swords.

“I will use copies to fight. That is all this is.”

With those words, the two of them gave each other a nod of understanding.

“Sayama, allow me to state your condition for victory. …If my consciousness cuts out for even an instant, Noah will sense a possibility of the philosopher’s stone extraction losing all meaning and she will cancel that command. As for my condition for victory…”

“You simply must defeat me.”

That was all they said. They did not even name themselves to each other.

However, Sayama did open his mouth.

He said two simple words.

“Now, then.”

Mikoku replied with a yell.

“En garde!!”

Sayama accelerated.

He activated a charm behind him to launch himself forward from the very first step.

…''I will take the first strike!

He stayed low and tore in toward his opponent.

“!”

Then he leaped.

He jumped to Mikoku’s right and immediately jumped back to the left.

His feint was too fast to follow and he definitely filled the gap between them.

A distance of ten meters was instantly reduced to zero and he landed down on his knees to her right.

He had reached her.

His landing whipped up the wind and sounded like stone being struck.

And his speed did not stop there.

He leaped again. He swung his left fist to throw a punch while leaping to the right.

…''I will use my speed for this one!

His fist ripped through the wind and the air seemed to burst.

However, Mikoku reacted, but not by evading.

—'''The world is reversed for an instant.

This was an inferior copy of a 7th-Gear concept. It was one of those included in Mikoku’s sword.

She had activated it.

…''!?

Their positions reversed, so Mikoku was swinging her left sword horizontally toward Sayama.

The tip of the red blade carried a trail of water vapor.

A moment later, Sayama jumped and performed a midair backflip in place.

Mikoku’s red arc swept by below his rotating head.

By the time he landed, she had finished swinging her left arm and had her back to him.

So to pick up speed for a kick, he took a light step as he landed.

He made a counterattack against Mikoku’s clockwise rotation.

For the left roundhouse kick, he spun quickly on his right toes.

The kicking foot was aimed at her left side.

Just as he thought it was going to hit, she took action.

—'''Objects fall down.

The concept lowered Mikoku’s stance with an instant of momentum.

She crouched down and avoided the attack.

Sayama’s kick cut free a few of her hairs that did not fall quickly enough.

That was when she gathered strength in her right sword.

—'''There is no mutual understanding.

A metallic sound rang out and Sayama found himself unable to understand the world.

He was in an entirely incomprehensible space.

In it, Mikoku swung up her left red sword toward him as he landed.

“…!”

The left slash sent a red arc his way.

It was directed toward his neck, but he could not understand that.

However, he did not hesitate.

…''Even if I cannot see my opponent, I have something here I can believe in!

He gathered his thoughts and clenched them in his right fist.

He threw an uppercut wrapped in a bit of red light.

He twisted his body and snapped his right arm up from the waist, but he was not targeting Mikoku.

His hand simply flew toward empty air.

“Tear into it!”

Mikoku frowned when she heard him.

“Is he acting out of pure desperation?”

But she soon received an answer.

The world split apart.

“!”

The incomprehensible concept space was destroyed by Sayama’s Georgius.

After the sound of spraying water or shattering glass, the world reached him once more.

He saw Mikoku’s eyes widened in surprise as she swung down her sword.

“Is that… Is that Georgius’s power to destroy concepts!?”

He did not answer.

He did, however, pull his right uppercut back in front of his face and throw his left fist forward.

It was a straight left punch.

An activated charm gave his fist more force and his shoulder shot forward like a catapult.

He remained true to the fundamentals.

“!!”

The strike tore into the wind and hit her sword at the base.

A moment later, the sword broke with a solid sound.

He could hear the red blade shatter.

But then he saw something else.

The broken and scattering red sword began to regenerate.

The blade grew thicker and longer and Mikoku gave him a sharp look.

“The concepts of regeneration and evolution were copied as well!”

A metallic noise sounded loud as the blade fit back together.

The somewhat short red blade had evolved to a new form and the shimmering heat of reactivation burst from its entire length.

Its length, thickness, and sharpness were all worthy of the name “sword” now.

Mikoku sent the sword racing out. With a snap of her wrist, she swung it down from directly above.

Sayama caught it with his fist.

A reflexive sound of the hit shook his body and the air.

From there, the two of them began a series of attacks.

The noise never ceased.

“…!”

Mikoku sent out an unmatched number of red and blue arcs.

Sayama created countless straight lines with his red and blue fists.

They moved, changed position, and produced the reverberation or shattering of concepts as they fought.

At the top of the walls, the final small pane of stained glass filled with light.

That only left the one large stained glass window.

At the same time, a slight vibration enveloped them.

The church-like facility was moving.

Its movement carried it upwards.

“Noah is switching from defensive standby mode to normal cruising mode in order to optimize the power bypass!”

That rumble of activation was absolute.

It grew to a loud tremor and filled the air like a song.

Their field of vision had begun to move.

The facility was to become the top of Noah.

Most likely, Noah was changing from a tower to an ark.

And all in preparation to change the world.

On the surface, the battlefield was centered on Babel.

The Top-Gear forces were in the forest and UCAT intercepted them from the field around Babel or the mountain path leading to Babel.

The battle had essentially reached a stalemate, but…

“—————”
The automatons were the first to notice the sound coming from the sky.

As they fought, they all suddenly looked up to the heavens.

“Ah…”

A moment later, #8 gave a shout from where she was wrapped in a blanket inside a cooler.

“Fall back! The sky is falling!!”

With those words, it came.

A sound that seemed both high- and low-pitched fell from the sky like a curtain.

But just as their confusion in that harmless sound allowed it to cover the ground, the entire surface of the ground struck them ''from below.

“!”

This was not an earthquake.

It was a single ripple.

Everything on the surface was unthinkably struck from the very ground they stood on.

The great blow launched everything and everyone into the air.

“…!!”

Some of them flew as high as five meters.

Among them, Kazami activated X-Wi in midair.

That was when she noticed something about the white tower seeming to defy the night before her eyes.

“It’s moving?”

Her question was answered in the affirmative.

The very next moment, everyone understood after being thrown to the ground.

The white tower in the center of their vision was slowly transforming and shaking.

The tremor of the tower passed through and shook the air.

Overhead, the tower’s surface began to produce clouds.

Its surface armor changed position as the moving parts within changed form. The disturbance of the wind high in the sky created more and more new clouds that seemed intent on decorating Babel’s surface.

Soon, Babel’s shaking grew visible.

Everyone knew this was very bad.

That great aerial ship was over fifteen kilometers long and had a maximum diameter of two kilometers. If that suddenly tore itself from the earth, it would create a massive earthquake for kilometers around.

This was a thankfully uninhabited place, but the damage from the collapsing and splitting ground would affect them all equally.

So…

“Fall baaaaack!!” shouted Kazami.

However, it was too late.

The Tower of Babel sent a deafening pulsation into the sky.

As that tower of words used its light to indicate its approximately two minute time limit, everyone down below saw something.

The massive structure had crudely torn itself from the earth.

It was a casual action, much like uprooting some grass.

The ground was torn up and lifted like a sticky liquid, while the air was pushed away and became wind.

A heavy sound too gentle to call a roar swept across the earth and wind as everything was carried into the sky.

It was uprooted.

No, it was not uprooted. It was taking back its rightful form.

Directly below, the great white tower seemed to ignore all of the land in its search for its proper place.

Its great mass moved the air and sent a storm-like tremor of air in every direction.

“—————”

Its fifteen kilometer form smashed an equal mass of earth and flew into the sky.

It was an ark.

As it stood in the sky, it gently collapsed onto its side.

The air was compressed below its collapse and the pressure of the air crushed the trembling and breaking land even further below.

The trees and structures on the earth scattered as if blown by a powerful fan. The dirt simply sitting on the crust was torn up into the sky by the pressurized air and the earth was blown to the side in every direction.

The earth trembled in order to fill the hole left by the great mass leaving it.

The tremor created a chain reaction into the distance, a few areas collapsed, and it all continued without end like the ringing of a tuning fork.

It was a great roar.

An attack of air came from the sky and the ground meant to support it would not stop trembling from below.

This created a liquefaction of the earth’s surface.

The vibration from the sky and the crust caused the bonds of the surface structure to crumble on the macro level and it all slid down the crust like liquid.

Everything on the mountain slopes collapsed down to the bottom of the mountains.

Everything at the bottom of the valleys moved to the base of the mountains as an avalanche.

None of it ever seemed to stop.

Noah, the ark meant to save all Gears, started forward over the seeming flood of earth below it.

At an altitude of approximately eight thousand meters, the white aerial ship placed itself horizontally to secure its position in the night sky.

At the same time, the top of its central room opened.

The room was fifty meters in each direction, so it was only a speck compared to the entire ship.

Below a field of air protecting it from the winds of high altitude, the opened room took the form of a church.

That church contained twenty Concept Cores and a bell was contained in a small room above the pulpit.

Light resided in the bell.

There was a winged automaton there.

Her name was also Noah.

The winged automaton arrived next to the bell as if descending from the heavens.

The cord in her hand was to ring the bell, but she did not ring it yet.

It was not yet time.

The last of the stained glass windows on the left and right walls were still dark.

When she saw the incomplete light, Noah moved no further.

Her motionless seemed to say the light would fill all of the stained glass before long.

As if waiting for the answer, the ark named Noah sat in midair with the angel named Noah atop it.

Then a sound rang out.

At the top of the ark, something other than a ringing bell sounded from the church.

This was the tone of battle, of attack.

Kazami lost consciousness for just an instant.

She came to when her body was violently shaken and she heard a voice a moment later.

“Chisato! Chisato! Are you okay? Is it here? Hmm, maybe not. Then what about here?”

Something was groping her breasts and placing its ear against them from below, so she swung her fist while coming to.

She heard a solid impact and a group shrieking as they moved back.

…''What is going on?

She opened her eyes and saw the sky to her left.

It was a black sky and she saw what she had hit flying through that sky.

It was a boy in a white armored uniform and it appeared to be Izumo.

She commented on him flying there.

“C’mon, Kaku. Why are you flying?”

A moment later, several voices gave a unified retort behind her.

“He isn’t flying! He was sent flying!!”

''Eh?'' she thought as she turned back to find the sky and the others.

She saw the automatons and the UCAT members, including American UCAT.

“Huh?” She tilted her head. “Why are you all gathered together?”

“Behind you! Behind you!!”

She turned around as told and noticed Izumo growing more distant.

As she watched, he only flew further away.

“Eh?”

She only caught on once she saw the shadowy features of the earth several hundred meters below him.

“Why is he falling?”

That question of her sleepy mind was answered from below her feet.

She heard Heo’s voice from the blue and white armor there.

“Um…this is really, really hard to say, but…”

“Give it to me straight.”

“I-I’d hurt you if I did that.”

“Then give it to me cutely.”

After five seconds of thought, Heo answered that request.

“Kong♪Punch?”

“Are you mocking me!?”

“Look forward!!”

She did as the others told her and found Izumo had grown very distant indeed.

She saw him moving and forming letters with his body, so she narrowed her eyes to read them.

“Y…M…C…A?”

“N-no,” said Heo’s voice. “That’s H-E-L-P!”

She groggily muttered “help” under her breath and then it hit her.

“Then we have to help him!”

She finally woke from the daze of being knocked unconscious.

“He’s in trouble!!”

“Th-that’s what I was saying!” shouted Heo.

“No, you weren’t. You were enjoying this,” muttered the people behind Kazami.

Meanwhile, Heo moved her body, which meant Thunder Fellow.

Kazami saw Noah lit by moonlight above and the American UCAT mechanical dragons were packed in flying around at the same altitude as her.

She asked a question as Thunder Fellow descended toward Izumo.

“What’s going on!?”

“There’s too much turbulence in the air above to get close to Noah!” explained Heo. “And we have a minute and thirty-two seconds left.”

Harakawa’s voice spoke next.

“Once we pick up the president, we’ll let all of you off.”

“What will you two-…”

“We’ll stay in the air. If it comes to it, we’ll brave the turbulence no matter how reckless it is.”

Only the transparent air was visible overhead, but a closer look showed Noah flickering.

The air was swelling and in complete disarray.

Normally, the wind would scatter and disperse, but this was inside a massive concept space. The air moved by Noah reflected off the ground and remained in the sky.

“Thunder Fellow can manage it. Whether we’ll make it in time is another issue, though.”

“Even if you can’t, Sayama will do something.”

Hearing Kazami’s words, everyone on the descending back looked up into the sky.

They all thought about the boy fighting inside Noah in the heavens above.

But that was when Heo cut in.

“Kazami, you didn’t hear the call just now, did you?”

“Call?”

The others shrank down around her.

…''Did something bad happen?

As she wondered that, Harakawa spoke up.

“Shinjou is in critical condition.”

“—————”

“My mom and the others are doing everything they can, but it seems the ‘Mikoku’ attack is really bad. Her heart has just about stopped, so…”

“Don’t say that!!”

She shouted back on reflex.

An awful thought was threatening to rise from the bottom of her heart, but she shook her head to get rid of it.

…''That…

“It will be okay.”

She said it more to calm herself than the others.

She said it again and looked up into the sky.

Her gaze seemed to look straight through Noah and to the boy inside.

“Sayama is fighting…so there’s no way Shinjou will die!”

She received no response, but she clenched her fist.

“Isn’t that right?”

Just as she asked that, it turned out Thunder Fellow was focusing too much on his passengers as he descended.

“Ah.”

His nose ran into Izumo and knocked him further away.

Continuous sounds of bursting filled the room.

It was the sound of paper and stones exploding and turning to ash.

Wind blew from the table in the center of the small room. It came from the back of the girl lying there.

The wind was a great gust. It was the slightly damp wind of gathering clouds.

Paper flew around the girl.

Blue stones were wrapped around her arms.

Swords bearing the name of the primary god of life were stabbed into the four sides of the room, but…

“Her heartrate, blood pressure, and brainwaves are falling!”

The three women attempting to rule the room frowned at the doctor’s announcement.

The paper was instantly scattered as ash, the stones vanished as dust, and the swords cracked and shattered.

However, the wind of gathering clouds strengthened and the silver-haired witch raised her voice.

“The resistance of the 2nd-Gear concepts is growing stronger!”

She tossed paper from her fingers and a woman in a gown smiled while on her knees.

“That means it’s growing desperate, too. It’s trying to carve her life, but it’s meeting enough of a defense to grow desperate. And that means…it has a limit to its power. If it had no limit, it wouldn’t need to panic.”

Next to her, an elderly woman smiled bitterly with the wind whipping at her lab coat.

“Ahh, ahh. I’m part of the imperial family and here I am opposing the Concept Core’s power. If I get cursed for this…”

Her bitter smile deepened.

“It might make for a good story.”

The three women nodded.

A moment later, the wind suddenly calmed.

That lull continued for a few seconds and the women looked to the time counter on the EKG.

“One minute and twenty seconds left! Here it comes! The concept of the name Mikoku is going to crush any defense preventing it from carving this girl’s life!!”

As soon as the witch said that, ''it'' came.

It was no longer a wind.

It was pure power.

Diana and the others were all slammed against the wall.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_9|Chapter 9]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_11|Chapter 11]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 4

2016-02-16T04:34:33Z

68.109.63.229: typos

==Chapter 4: Reason for Defeat==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0139.png|thumb]]
''The corner of hope

''Which simply yells how much it hurts

''Wants much, much more

Kazami responded to Jord’s movement by running along the slope.

She ran as fast as she could.

X-Wi had always been her lifeline during a battle, but she had removed the straps and left it on the ground. After all, it now had the amazing ability of transforming “flying” into “falling”, so it was completely useless.

And at the moment, she was incredibly helpless.

She doubted she could even lift the spear she had brought with her, so it too was abandoned on the ground as nothing more than an obstacle between her and Jord.

Her armored uniform was also very heavy.

On that note, Izumo had removed her skirt earlier and now wore it on his head as armor.

…''Why protect his head when his brain is already a lost cause?

She did not understand why she still had her speed even though her strength was gone.

Her equipment felt heavy, but her body did not.

Similarly, Izumo’s defenses had been reversed, but he could still lift things and run.

It seemed only their special abilities had been reversed.

…''In that case, the strength I can use now is what’s actually mine.

She could act as something like a diversion.

She could only say “something like a” because she had no attack power.

A diversion that could not attack could not draw their opponent’s attention.

And sure enough, Jord was focused on Izumo and trying to hit him.

However, there was a way of drawing Jord’s attention without attacking.

“————!!”

She ran right in front of Jord as the woman was attacking.

She put herself between Jord and Izumo to hide the boy from her.

She jumped to place herself at Jord’s eye level and interfered with her attack.

And…

“!!”

She performed a midair side-flip to avoid Jord’s attack.

Blocking her view would delay her attack. Not seeing how her opponent reacted prevented her from attacking in the optimal position.

It was Izumo’s job to attack, so he swung down his large sword.

“Ohhhh!!”

It drew a large downward arc, but…

“I hope that doesn’t hit me.”

With Jord’s words, it failed to hit.

The thick blade was swinging straight toward Jord from head-on, but it only tore at empty air.

It should have hit, but it did not.

…''It’s been reversed.

Jord’s original concept had been “betrayed expectations”. Everything others expected of her would not happen.

But that ability had been reversed.

…''Her own expectations come true.

If she wished “let there be light”, light would appear there.

She even did exactly that.

She swung her hand and casually fired light from it to deflect Izumo’s sword as he raised it again.

“…!”

With the sound of crumbling sand, the light fell apart and vanished.

But in that instant, the vanishing light fell on the surrounding area like frost and froze Izumo’s sword.

That light would freeze anything it hit.

“Now, how does it feel to face a god? You aren’t doing a very good job of holding your own.”

“Gods these days sure talk a lot even without an oracle,” replied Kazami while feeling a little out of breath.

She turned toward Izumo who was a step behind her.

“Kaku, are you okay?”

Even a minor hit would be fatal to him right now and she did not want a repeat of what had happened in the past.

“Don’t do anything too reckless, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” he said calmly. “I’ll keep my usual spot where I can adore your butt.”

He looked down at her skirtless butt.

“Everything is okay.”

“What are you talking about?”

Her armored uniform was a full-body suit, so removing the skirt only revealed the lower layer of the suit.

But it was true this area was normally hidden.

…''You don’t have to point out that you can see it.

''But it’s okay. You’re wearing defensive stockings and you’ve trained enough to have a perfect silhouette.

After reassuring herself, she looked forward.

She looked to Jord.

That woman could do anything that matched her expectations and they had yet to get a single attack in on her.

However, they had yet to be hit by any of her attacks either.

With that in mind, Kazami breathed in.

''Abilities are reversed in this space,'' she thought.

…''What does that mean?

She frowned at this sudden question in her heart.

She felt she had to have overlooked a few things about the reversed abilities.

And…

“————”

She realized a certain fact and frantically hid her expression so Jord would not notice what she was thinking.

She quickly stood tall, kept her cool, and glanced at Izumo behind her.

“Well, I guess we’ll manage somehow.”

“That’s right,” she agreed.

…''We might be able to pull this off somehow.

She then sank down, opened her mouth toward Jord, and gathered her resolve.

“I’ll go first.”

Jord frowned.

“Are you insane?”

“Who knows,” she said with a smile on the corner of her mouth. “But let me tell you one weakness of your expectations.”

That weakness was…

“Even a god can only think about one thing at a time. You can only hold one expectation in your head at once. So let me tell you something else.”

She raised her hips and leaned forward.

“I’ll go first, so you had better ''prepare the expectation you need to defeat me''.”

With those words, she launched her body forward.

She ran.

She began the seven meter dash to Jord and she heard Izumo running behind her.

Jord held the hammer close in on her upper right.

Kazami ran in first, closely followed by Izumo.

She more or less knew what they were trying to do. Kazami would dodge and Izumo would attack at the same moment.

It was true that she could not think of two expectations at the same time. Parallel thoughts were not possible.

That was why her opponents were acting at the same time.

If she intercepted Kazami, Izumo’s attack would hit her a moment later.

But if she wanted to intercept Izumo, Kazami was in the way.

…''In that case, I guess I should target the one in the back.

Kazami had no attack power.

While Kazami would be in the way, the only danger was Izumo behind her.

''And,'' she thought. ''This Kazami girl is what matters most to him.

That meant he would attack as soon as he could to make sure the girl was not harmed and he would make an attack that was even more certain to hit her than before.

As for Kazami, she was sure to wait until the last moment to make sure Jord could not avoid Izumo’s attack.

…''In that case…

Jord decided who to target, what to expect, and what to attack.

…''Kazami!

If she attacked that girl, Izumo would crumble, so the diversion was actually the better option.

As soon as she made up her mind, Kazami took action during her approach.

She made a quick cartwheel to evade and that exposed her outstretched body to Jord.

Her wrists had already reached the ground, so she twisted them to begin her evasion.

''Trying to blind me again?'' thought Jord as she prepared her weapon.

In that moment, Jord saw Kazami’s hands stop before completing their twisting motion.

“!”

The girl pushed off the ground in a jump.

By the time, Jord wondered what was happening, it was already too late.

After making her hand-stand jump, Kazami’s back slammed into Jord.

This produced an impact, but Jord could easily endure it.

However, Kazami was not trying to knock the woman over.

She wrapped her knees and legs around Jord’s shoulders and neck and bent backwards.

Kazami’s legs were dangling down from Jord’s neck.

This was a Frankensteiner.

But she failed to throw Jord. The woman spread her legs and held her ground.

“…!!”

However, Kazami did not stop there. She swung her upside-down body like a pendulum and…

“Are you going to use the reaction to sit up and fully block my vision!?”

Jord understood. As soon as Kazami sat up and covered her face, Izumo’s sword would strike her defenseless body.

Even if she created an expectation that she would dodge Izumo’s attack, Kazami would continue blocking her vision, she would not see the next attack coming, and that attack would hit her.

And that was exactly what started to happen.

Kazami swung her arms as if throwing something.

“!”

And she quickly shot upwards to block Jord’s vision.

She swung her arms forward, bent her abs, and then latched onto Jord’s head to block her view.

At the same time, Jord could sense Izumo moving. He sank down toward the ground to remain hidden behind Kazami and then…

“Go for it, Chisato!”

Kazami realized Izumo had swung his sword one-handed behind her.

She had swung her arms upwards and used the momentum to grab onto Jord’s head.

Her pose was similar to someone just before performing a Frankensteiner.

Jord’s vision was blocked, so she had to choose between peeling Kazami away or avoiding Izumo’s attack.

The former would give Izumo a chance to attack and the latter would allow a second attack shortly thereafter.

…''Either way she won’t escape unscathed!

A moment later, Kazami heard Jord’s expectation.

The woman spoke her coming expectation aloud.

“Can my grandson…”

She took a breath.

“…really attack this girl?”

Izumo realized the tip of his sword had turned toward Kazami’s back.

His body was automatically responding to Jord’s expectation.

He tried to stop it, but he still tightly held the hilt and pointed the blade at Kazami.

…''Not good!

At this rate, the sword would definitely skewer Kazami. He had no doubt about that.

He saw Kazami look back at him in surprise, but a beat later, he saw her raise her eyebrows a little, close her eyes, and nod.

She was entrusting herself to him and showing that she trusted him.

…''So I’ve gotta show off my good side!

He immediately decided that he could not allow himself to harm her.

So first, he let go of the sword.

The weapon slowly fell and the possibility of accidentally killing Kazami vanished.

However, he was still a prisoner of Jord’s expectation.

His right fist was proof of that. He clenched his fist and aimed it toward Kazami.

With her slender body, he would be lucky if this blow only broke a few of her ribs.

He could not allow that, but then what was he to do?

There was no way he could avoid attacking her. It was a god’s expectation.

So was there an attack that would not do any damage?

There was, so he used that.

While still forming his right fist, he raised the index finger.

“Half kancho!!”

“Kyah!”

He pulled off the attack with the perfect timing, speed, and power.

But UCAT’s armored uniform was overly sturdy for him and his current defenses could not even handle the reaction.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! I jammed my finger!!”

Still, he had avoided harming that precious girl.

''That was a clever decision,'' he praised himself.

“Man, that was a close one, wasn’t it?”

He looked up and saw something there.

It was Kazami’s left fist flying in from the side. In other words, it was a left backfist.

“What do you think you’re doing to a girl’s butt!?”

She scored a direct hit.

The impact sent him flying more than it actually hurt, but he still got a good look at Kazami.

She was clinging to Jord’s neck with her legs and left arm and she held a weapon in her right hand.

It was a spear.

Jord widened her eyes in surprise.

Kazami held a spear tip in her right hand and she was trying to swing it down at Jord.

“How can you use that spear!?”

“It’s simple.”

Kazami had her left arm locked onto Jord’s neck and back and she narrowed her eyes from close enough to feel her breath.

Jord then heard what the girl said.

“I’d forgotten I had attached anchors to it to make it heavier, but that lightened it up a fair bit.”

Jord saw a single anchor attached to the spear.

Kazami had likely picked it up while wrapping her legs around Jord’s neck and leaning back.

Hiding Izumo’s attack had not been her only reason to rise up and block Jord’s vision.

“It was to keep me from seeing the spear!?”

“That’s right.”

Jord heard Izumo’s footsteps behind Kazami’s voice.

He intended to pick up his dropped sword and attack.

They would attack simultaneously, so how could she avoid that with a single expectation?

Jord then spoke her answer.

It was a simple statement that closed everything off.

“Will you be crushed?”

Kazami and Izumo immediately crashed into the ground.

Izumo felt an impact all across his body.

The rocky ground was hard and the damage was much more thorough than from being hit by something.

His organs jumped up inside him and the core of his body felt knocked out of place.

…''Whoa.

Not only did he lack his divine protection, but this concept space seemed to actually give him pain.

He could not seem to get any air back into his lungs and he had trouble breathing.

Kazami was collapsed next to him with spear in hand and she seemed to have hit her head.

“Ow…”

She squeezed her eyes shut and gently squirmed.

Past her, Jord stood tall in her white combat coat.

Izumo saw her exhale, scratch her head, and smile bitterly.

“I really should have made that kind of expectation earlier.”

She looked to him.

“I should have just expected that you would lose.”

That expectation was guaranteed to come true.

They would lose.

And as proof, all strength left Izumo’s body.

His stomach relaxed and air finally entered his lungs.

“Y’know,” he said in a trembling voice. “You are my grandmother, aren’t you?”

“Are you hoping I’ll have mercy on you for that? Not a chance.”

“Why not?”

Jord shook her head.

“To me, you’re a collection of betrayed expectations.” She lowered her eyebrows a little. “My world, my daughter, and everything else refused to do what I wanted, which all led to you. And…”

“And?”

“Isn’t it pathetic?” Her bitter smile grew as he had his hands full simply breathing. “You probably don’t know what my daughter said to me when she turned her back on me.”

He did not answer. He only tried to get up.

“Stay down.”

She took a short step forward and kicked.

Her kick flew over Kazami and accurately caught him on the left side.

His left ribs groaned and he rotated three times as he flew to the right.

He rolled along the rocky ground and even the fallen grains of sand felt painful.

He landed face down and the bit of rock jutting up toward his chest was enough to make his sense of pain even more sensitive.

His ribs had been broken and he just about passed out from the pain.

But even so…

“————”

He tried to get up.

Another kick came. This one was to the right side as if to flip him over.

He flew through the air and rolled four times along the ground.

His broken ribs must have punctured a lung because he coughed up blood before he even began breathing again. He was choking on the blood.

Face up now, he heard Jord’s voice.

“There’s no point in moving. …Your defeat has already been determined.”

“Maybe…so,” he muttered. “Then make your case for victory, old lady.”

He forced a smile and his grandmother frowned.

“Are you joking?”

“No…not really,” he said. “I’m of course going to make a strong case of my own.”

As soon as he said that, something appeared: wings.

“…!?”

Black wings of reversed power grew from Jord’s back.

She quickly turned toward the black light glowing from her back.

“What…?”

“That’s Chisato’s X-Wi. Before I attacked with my sword earlier, ''I ducked down and grabbed it with my left hand.'' So you didn’t see that? You didn’t wonder why I only used one hand to attack?”

“—————”

“And when Chisato picked up her spear, ''she threw one of its anchors to me.'' I attached it to X-Wi to lighten it, so I passed it to her when she hit me with her backfist.”

X-Wi weighed about three kilograms, so the anchor would just about cancel out all of its weight.

When attacking Jord with her spear, Kazami had grabbed onto the woman’s back with her left arm.

…''But the spear was never meant to work. She was attaching X-Wi to your back with her left arm.

And now the black wings were linked to the movements of Jord’s back.

They made an awkward flap.

“————”

The wings would normally have taken her forward and up, but now they took her down and back.

Jord’s body teetered backwards.

“————!”

She lost her balance.

At the same time, Izumo stood up. He endured the intense pain remaining throughout his body and stood.

He raised the sword that was miraculously still in his right hand and he stepped toward Jord.

However, Jord shouted her expectation.

“You will lose!!”

The expectation of a god activated.

Jord also spread her legs to bear with the downward pull of the wings on her back and she raised the hammer in her right hand.

“You will lose, my grandson of betrayed expectations!!”

He briefly closed his eyes when he heard that.

Not even he understood why. Was it because she had said he was a betrayal of her expectations or was it because she had called him her grandson?

…''I guess it doesn’t matter.

He was expected to lose.

That was a god’s expectation, so he was going to lose.

And so he spoke.

“Sorry, old lady. It’s true that I’m going to lose.”

He did not hesitate to swing down his sword and speak his heart.

“Hitting my own grandmother means I’ve lost as a human being.”

“…!?”

Jord gasped.

Izumo did not stop moving. The sword dropped straight toward her.

He had called her his grandmother.

It may have been because she had called him her grandson.

She could not be sure, but she did know that a powerful attack was about to reach her.

“Old lady, I don’t know what my mom said to you,” he said. “But I do know what she said to me. She told me to reach the point where I could live without my divine protection. And she said she would protect me until that time came.”

So…

“How am I doing now?”

Jord gave a yell in response.

She did not know if it was directed at his attack or something else, but it was single word.

“Stop!!”

That word did indeed make Izumo stop.

However, he kept his sword held high.

“Sorry, old lady. I’ll stop losing then.”

His voice was strained from the pain he was experiencing.

“Chisato.”

He called out and the response came from below.

“Right, Kaku. This is the job for the cruel wife. I’m the one that will hit her and lose.”

Jord turned around and saw Kazami directly below.

The girl’s spear was in cannon mode and its tip was aimed at Jord’s butt.

Kazami briefly brought her hands together as if praying to her and then she spoke while squeezing the trigger.

“I’ll take the defeat, so you take this cannon kancho!!”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_5|Chapter 5]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 2

2016-02-15T15:56:49Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 2: Slope of Meeting */ typo

==Chapter 2: Slope of Meeting==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0079.png|thumb]]
''In other words

''Meetings are found

''At the end of a mountain slope

The stars were quite visible in the winter night sky, but a few conditions had to be met for them to be seen.

First, the atmosphere had to be stable.

Second, there could not be any bright lights nearby.

Third, someone had to be there to see them.

A long runway in the mountains met conditions one and three and number two was underway.

The long runway’s lights were switched off, starting from the far end.

It was as if the runway was going dark and silent.

It took less than a minute for the three thousand meters of light to vanish between the mountain and forest.

Once the residual light faded, only one thing remained.

“The starlight, huh?”

A woman in a white armored uniform and a scarf let out a white breath as she looked into the sky.

Her semi-long hair shook as she turned back toward a shadow.

The dark blue shade from the moon and starlight was provided by a beach parasol raised on the runway.

A man in a black suit sat on a long chair below it while a maid set up a telescope next to him.

The man finished wiping his mouth with a white handkerchief and looked to the woman in the scarf.

“Ooki-sensei, are you in charge while everyone else is away?”

“Ah, Itaru-san. You’re older than me, so don’t call me ‘sensei’. I am grateful, though.”

The maid responded to Ooki’s comment while adjusting the angle of the telescope.

“Then may I refer to you as Ooki-sensei?”

“Of course. Oh, I can’t wait to teach a class with someone like you in it, Sf-san.”

“…I have determined I will not do that.”

“Wh-why not?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Itaru. “So did everyone else decide you were useless?”

“Th-that got specific in a hurry! ….And that isn’t it. Kanda needs some support with concept related things. They needed someone to work with them from here, so I stayed behind.”

“Then why are you out here?”

“Well, after I finished linking the devices, there was nothing more for me to do.”

Sf and Itaru began whispering to each other.

“She was definitely excluded.”

“Is this what they call ostracism, Itaru-sama?”

“D-don’t say that loud enough for me to hear you,” complained Ooki. “And you know what?”

She raised a finger to gather their attention.

“They needed someone to keep them informed on Shinjou-san and Mikage-san’s conditions.”

“Then why aren’t you in the medical room or the development department?”

“I always get lost when I go underground,” she admitted with a hand on her head and a smile on her lips.

“Itaru-sama, I have never before seen someone so innately uncooperative.”

“Have you never looked in a mirror? Then look at your hand. That’s you.”

Sf looked at her palm as instructed.

“I have determined this is very philosophical.”

“Oh? Do you know how the character for ‘philosophy’ is written? By ‘bending’ your ‘mouth’. Into a frown. That’s often how I feel when I see you. Philosophical, isn’t it?”

“Tes. I have determined that is because I was made in Germany, the homeland of philosophy. Therefore, my every action requires an understanding of philosophy to grasp.”

“Oh, is that why seeing you fills me with melancholy and an urge to kill myself?”

“Tes. I have determined that is one of the trials of life. There are both mountains and valleys in life, after all. …Why you choose that treacherous route instead of the level sea is beyond me, though.”

“That’s because of you!!”

Ooki smiled as she listened to them.

“You two sure get along well.”

“Ooki-sensei, you’re too quick to assume there is good in everyone. She’s more than enough to prove that idea wrong.”

“Tes. Because that is what you wish for, Itaru-sama.”

Itaru let out a white sigh and collapsed back in the long chair.

But Ooki turned to Sf instead of him.

“Then what would you be like if Itaru-san didn’t wish for that?”

Sf tilted her head a bit, placed her hand on the set-up telescope, and replied expressionlessly.

“I was created exclusively for Itaru-sama, so there is nothing else I could ''be like''. Even if identical models were mass-produced at some point, I have determined that I would be the only one that is me.”

She placed her other hand on her chest.

“An automaton’s heart is metal, so that point will never change.”

“I see.”

Ooki scratched her head and looked to the telescope Sf’s hand rested on.

“Do you like to look at the stars?”

“Tes. Itaru-sama does.”

As they turned toward him, Itaru let out an annoyed comment.

“It’s an old habit. We used to do this a lot.”

He viewed the dark runway through his sunglasses.

“We would shut off all the lights without permission, use a lantern to set the mood and keep track of our footing, and get all excited over seeing Saturn’s rings or something.”

Ooki glanced around, but saw no one else on the dark asphalt beyond her white breaths.

Everyone had either gone to Kansai or was working down below.

However, Sf suddenly opened her mouth.

“I can estimate that Itaru-sama imagines that there are people around him when he looks at the sky in an empty place.”

“Don’t speak for me,” he said while still looking to the runway. “But when you turn out all the lights, it feels like everything has already ended here. …Ooki-sensei, we’ll be taking care of a job down below in a bit, but don’t turn the lights back on.”

“Eh? But won’t that be a problem when the others get back?”

“Do as your supervisor tells you,” he said. “I’ll give you some orders soon, but until then, why not look at the stars?”

“Oh, can I mess with it?”

“Yes,” he replied with a shrug and a white sigh. “It’s better than having you go down and get lost.”

“Oh, yeah, I suppose so.”

“Then I’m counting on you. I’m sure I’ll have a few jobs for you.”

He let out another white breath as he spoke.

“You should be able to help those idiots fighting over Babel.”

The clash in the late-night mountain region began with a firefight between an American UCAT ground unit and a group of Top-Gear dolls waiting in the forest.

American UCAT made use of armor and explosives while the dolls kept their opponents in place with a hail of arrows and their mobility.

American UCAT put no limits on the quality and quantity of their explosives.

They poured in as much personnel as they could to push on through.

But that did not go as planned.

“What’s going on!? Our explosives aren’t as effective as they should be!”

The flying arrows pierced through the armored shield on the commander’s false arm.

“!?”

The three arrows sticking from him were made of wood.

The voice that escaped his throat was filled with more confusion than pain: why?

His question was answered by his second-in-command who had taken one of the arrows to his shoulder.

“This is a concept of terrain protection! On natural terrain, the things closest to that terrain are more effective and anything unnaturally processed has its power rejected!”

“What kind of cheap fantasy story is this!?”

The commander scattered gunfire into the surrounding shadows to protect those following from behind.

“Are we overwriting the concept text to cancel it!?”

“We’re trying, but the large Kanda facility has to distribute their processing power elsewhere too.”

“But the enemy can focus on this battlefield, so we can’t overpower them, is that it!?”

Through the thinner parts of the dark forest, the commander saw new dolls arriving.

…''They sure are persistent.

The dolls hit by their bullets would fall over but quickly get back up.

The metal bullets had a complex manufacturing process, so they caused little damage in this space.

The explosives and optical weaponry were the same.

“Dammit. Does this concept even affect conceptually strengthened concept weapons because they ‘aren’t natural’!?”

Each enemy might as well have been a solid wall and American UCAT’s defenses might as well have been made of paper.

And even just counting the ones they could see, there were more than one hundred dolls in the forest.

…''How many of them are there in the mountains as a whole?

This was worrying and these dolls were not their only enemy. There had to be a main force as well.

“Dammit!”

The commander sprayed machinegun fire, but the bright sparks quickly vanished and the sound was absorbed by the forest.

Eventually, his ammunition belt ran out.

“Get me a reload! And have the following unit temporarily withdra-…”

He turned around to find his second-in-command was gone.

No, he was still there, but he had collapsed to the ground after taking an arrow to the front of both shoulders.

…''Kh.

A moment later, someone shouted from behind them.

“Withdraw!! Get out of the forest!!”

At the same time, the commander felt a slight wind.

…''!?

He turned just his head and saw a doll only twenty centimeters away.

By the time he wondered how it had gotten there, it wrapped an arm around his neck from behind.

That was when he realized that the dolls themselves were made of wood.

…''They made them ecological to match this terrain!?

Their cooling, armor, mobility, and everything else was taken care of by the protection provided by the concept space’s concept text.

Most likely, their actual design only included the bare minimum.

They had been carved down, given moving parts and controls, and then painted.

''We’re losing to them?'' thought the commander.

But his troops’ concept weapons were useless against the dolls’ conceptual defenses.

“Kh!”

The automaton’s right hand shot up in front of him.

It held a black knife made of polished obsidian.

It was coming for his throat, but he took that instant to move.

His trained reflexes linked with his survival instincts.

“———!”

He sank down and forcibly grabbed the knife-wielding arm with his own right hand.

He then bent forward to lift up the slender form behind him.

He immediately flipped his lower back forward.

“Secret technique! One-Man Shoulder Throw!!”

He threw her to the right as if dropping her to the ground.

He had a lock on the doll’s arm, so she could not escape.

As if he had swung a tree branch, she fell head-first in a completely vertical posture.

“Final blow!!”

He took something from his left hip and shoved it into the briefly upside-down doll’s mouth.

It was two hundred grams of C4 explosive with a conceptual protection applied.

The protection simply caused it to detonate when a password was spoken.

While brushing off the automaton’s chokehold and putting some distance between them, he gave a shout as soon as her head was going to strike the ground.

“Explosions are art!!”

She exploded.

A solid sound accompanied the doll being blasted into the sky instead of hitting the ground.

The force of the blast was far smaller than normal, but that was due to the concept space.

Still, it had definitely blown her away.

…''Even if it is just one!

He grabbed the collar of his still-breathing second-in-command and tried to pull him to his feet, but then the airborne doll did something odd.

She had been sent upwards while upside-down, but she then bent both her knees forward.

The legs wrapped around a thick tree branch passing through the darkness above and she swung like a pendulum.

…''Wha-?

The commander stared blankly upwards as the doll swung twice to build up speed.

“!”

And she jumped straight down.

She flipped around once in the few meters of space available, landed with her body turned to the side, and looked right at him.

He saw a scorch mark on her mouth as if blood was oozing out, but that was all.

“That didn’t affect you!?”

As if to answer him, the doll shook her head and spat something onto the ground.

It was a single tooth made of wood.

The action seemed to be showing him how much it had affected her.

She was saying to thank her for taking that much damage.

Simply put, it had not affected her at all.

He gulped and confirmed something with his sense of hearing.

He could hear something, but it was not gunfire or shouting voices.

He heard a voiceless silence and soft footsteps approaching him through the underbrush.

Figures stood in the surrounding forest…no, in all of the darkness he could see.

These figures were not his fellow soldiers. They were all dolls wielding knives and bows and arrows.

''Impossible,'' he thought. ''All of my comrades were taken out?

“We were hoping to make a successful assault, but we couldn’t even act as a proper diversion…”

He clenched his teeth. The only upside was that the following unit had been able to withdraw.

But he picked up a machinegun lying on the ground.

He exhaled and did not bother wiping the sweat from his brow.

“I’m not going to lose here.”

He was well aware the voiceless dolls were not going to reply.

“I may have no power, but I do have a will.”

So…

“If I can lose with that, then this world is done for!!”

He knew it was not going to work, but he still raised the machinegun like it was some kind of ritual.

The dolls began to move at the same time.

They rushed toward him like a wind blowing through the forest.

The countless blades and flying points were trying to tear into his body, not his will.

It only lasted an instant.

Just as he prepared to squeeze the trigger, everything was swept away before his eyes.

“…!?”

It looked like a white gale, but…

…''A shell!? No…

It was a train.

The high-speed train measured over two hundred meters long and it used its speed to become a high-speed shell and plow onto the battlefield, breaking through the conceptual protection on the way.

A shockwave raced by, trees were toppled, and the commander too was blown away in an instant.

But in that instant, he saw the train tearing into the ground, racing through the sounds of destruction as it fell on its side, and yet continuing on in the direction American UCAT had been trying to go.

“Ha ha…”

He stopped when he hit a tree and he laughed in the blowing wind.

He could see a mechanical dragon and a black god of war flying and repeatedly clashing in the sky.

The train was no longer visible, but he had noticed that the front car was partially destroyed.

He doubted it could carry its passengers all the way to Babel.

But that was enough.

Mountain climbing was best done on foot.

“Ha ha,” he laughed in the wind.

He could see twin lines of bent and twisted metal laid out along the path the train had taken.

He could not stop laughing when he saw that and he sat down at the base of a tree.

“So they laid a manmade track to decorate the path we made.”

He raised his voice while hoping it would ride the wind and reach them.

“Keep going, you bearers of strength!!”

The train stopped near a ridge in the western Mount Ikoma region.

Susahito Custom’s attack had kept Alex’s cannon blast from scoring a direct hit, but the front car had still been knocked on its side, twisting the other cars in the process.

It had of course been the automatons who saved them when all of the cars were about to slam into the mountainous terrain.

They had fixed the track below the train like a sled, so the train had become a high-speed shell sliding along the slope and into the mountains.

After placing the cars gently on the mountain slope, the forty-two automatons were too overheated to move.

The front car was almost entirely destroyed.

The rest had had their armor destroyed and not a single window had survived.

However, the passengers were almost entirely unharmed.

They worked to carry the unmoving maids into the shadow of the train.

“Let’s go,” said Kazami as they all started up the slope.

If they crossed the ridge, it was all downhill from there. They would reach Babel in no time.

They had received a report saying American UCAT would regroup and follow the path they had created.

Also, American UCAT’s mechanical dragons had arrived and were crushing the dolls like tanks.

But when they reached the top of the ridge and looked down, they all saw a shadowy tower rising toward heaven in the vast night.

Below, a forest surrounded the tower, but that forest was broken by the slope they stood atop.

The rocky way down was about five hundred meters and there were enemies there.

The slope was covered in dolls and…

“The sky too,” said Sayama.

Indeed, a few dozen figures were visible in the sky.

They were dolls wearing black armored uniforms with black wings spread.

Izumo responded by resting his large Cowling Sword on his shoulder and saying the following:

“Even more dolls, huh? How many variations are there?”

“Ooshiro-san must be happy with this many dolls around.”

“I-I don’t like dolls that much.”

Hearing that, #8 turned toward Ooshiro and he gave a quiet shriek at the look in her eyes.

“Y-you are…different. Okay?”

“In other words, you hate me even more?”

“Y-you must not twist my words! I think you’re great! Yeah! You’re so great, #8-kun.”

“Testament.” #8 nodded. “In other words, you think being despised and beaten is ‘great’.”

“Is that all I am to people these days?”

They all made sure to ignore him.

That was when a voice reached them, carried up the mountain by the wind.

It was a female but deep voice.

“So you’re finally here.”

Kazami reacted before anyone else by adjusting X-Wi’s position on her back.

“…Jord!?”

“That’s right.”

She was standing halfway up the slope and a giant hammer-style weapon rested on her shoulder.

“I’m not really taking Top-Gear’s side, but there’s something I wanted to check on.”

She was looking at Izumo and Kazami.

“You aren’t going to be betraying any expectations, are you?”

“Don’t worry,” replied Izumo with a serious expression. “I meet her expectations every night.”

Kazami’s kick sent him flying through the air and that signaled the beginning.

As Izumo flew below the moonlight, the dolls reacted and the others from UCAT began to move.

The white army and the black army rushed forward like avalanches moving both up and down the slope.

“Ha ha ha. Hurry on down!”

Jord’s words rang through the surge of people and voices.

A moment later, she raised her giant hammer in the shadow cast by the tower behind her.

“If you’re too slow, the world is gonna change!!”

A small white underground room in UCAT contained a bed in the center with lights shining down on it from the ceiling. It was an operating room.

The tones of the EKG sounded quietly as the doctor closed the wound on the back lying on the bed and applied a charm.

Next to him, Tsukuyomi wore her development department lab coat.

She looked to the doctor with a few swords in hand.

“Well?”

The doctor hesitated to answer.

“I managed to close the wound, but…”

The lines coming from the EKG printer had reached the falling line.

The doctor looked to Tsukuyomi.

“I think she will last like this. She must be fighting with her own willpower. To be honest, it’s a miracle she’s holding on like this.”

“Will she recover on her own?”

“No. The name concept is like a linchpin. It was applied under the effects of the Concept Core, so it will continue to carve into her life. If we could stop that, then we could make her life whole again, but…”

The doctor trailed off and lowered his head.

“I apologize. You already know all this.”

“Yeah.” Tsukuyomi nodded and looked around with the swords in hand. “From here on, it’s a concept battle. We have to see how much people can fight against the world of 2nd-Gear.”

She looked at the sleeping girl, at Shinjou’s closed eyes.

The EKG was beeping.

It was a quiet sound, but it was proof that the girl was fighting against that world.

“That girl always does give her very best effort.”

Tsukuyomi nodded and tension filled her face.

“I’m going to begin now, but call someone for me. …The world’s most powerful witch should be here. I could use someone that skilled with spells.”

Kazami and Izumo faced Jord.

Kazami was in the air and Izumo on the ground.

Kazami had just destroyed a few dolls and their fellow UCAT members had just vanished into the forest below.

Izumo had just stopped Jord’s hammer with his white Cowling Sword and put some distance between them.

Jord took a large step back and spoke while catching her breath.

“So dolls aren’t enough, are they?”

“No, they aren’t.” Kazami looked down at Izumo. “Even if they have the conceptual protection of the terrain, their joints still use wires and oil for smooth movement. If you cut them in just the right spot, they’ll lose their balance and fall.”

To do that, one had to keep up with their speed or be able to block their attacks.

Kazami and Izumo could do one or the other of those, so the dolls were keeping their distance.

Jord shrugged.

“I see. So dolls really aren’t enough. …I thought you might have been relying on the Concept Cores, but it looks like you can actually fight pretty well yourselves.”

“You’re not bad without a Concept Core yourself.”

Kazami heard Izumo speak casually to his grandmother, but Jord only lightly replied, “That’s right.”

In that instant, Kazami realized the sounds of wings and thus the winged dolls had moved away.

The dolls on the surface had also moved far away from Jord.

…''What are they doing?

Worried by how the dolls quickly moved several hundred meters away, Kazami asked a question.

“What are you going to do?”

“Something simple. I’m just going to show you how stubborn 10th-Gear can be.”

She raised the giant hammer with only her right arm and she smiled with one eye shut.

“Do you know what Concept Core weapon 10th-Gear made before making Gungnir?”

Kazami frowned because this was something Izumo had only just told her the night before.

“Thor’s Hammer…”

“Right.” Jord nodded. “This is it right here. I picked it up from the reservation on the way here, so I’m going to see for myself just how you two will oppose a god!”

She then swung down the hammer.

When it crashed into the rocky slope and produced a metallic noise, Kazami heard a voice.

—'''Abilities are reversed.

At the same time, she saw her wings pick up speed in a certain direction: down.

“…!?”

Her wings of flight were now powering her fall.

Before she could even gasp, she crashed into the rocky slope.

Izumo saw Kazami fall toward the rocks.

She fell back-first, where her wings were.

Cautious of Jord, she had moved lower, so the fall happened almost instantly.

“Chisato!”

He ran over, but he was not going to make it in time.

…''Dammit!

She fell about five meters and she had lost her balance due to X-Wi, but he doubted she would mess up and fall on her head.

She hit the ground as he ran over.

“Ouch!”

That shout proved she was not too badly hurt.

Once he arrived, she placed her hands on her lower back while lying on the ground.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

“A-are you okay, Chisato! Is it your butt!? Does your butt hurt!? What a naughty butt! I may have to confiscate it! Like this!? Like this, right!? O-or is your butt just unspeakably naughty!?”

“The problem isn’t my butt! It’s your head!!”

Her fist flew, but…

“Huh?”

She never reached him and her fist swished harmlessly through empty air.

X-Wi lay between her back and the ground and the metal backpack had pulled her down.

She could not get up from the ground.

“…?”

She raised her arms and swung them around, but X-Wi did not follow her movements or even budge.

It almost seemed glued down.

“What is going on?”

She looked over her shoulder toward X-Wi and Izumo tilted his head.

“Did it get heavier?”

He reached for X-Wi himself and it easily moved. If he subtracted Kazami’s own weight from the weight he felt, X-Wi had to be about three kilograms.

“It’s not heavy at all?”

“B-but it’s really, really heavy.”

“No, that isn’t it.”

He let go of X-Wi and thought for a moment.

“Your special ability ‘Kong Power’ has been reversed.”

“How can you be so mean to a girl!?”

“Hey, calm down, Chisato. Think about this positively. This means your power comes from a kind of divine protection instead of from you. In other words, your Kong isn’t actually yours.”

“Oh, you’re right.”

Her face brightened and she gave a sigh of relief.

“Now I don’t have to be synonymous with school violence anymore.”

''I have one hell of a girlfriend, don’t I?'' he thought as a strange feeling filled his heart.

Kazami then gathered strength in her abs to sit up.

“Nn.”

She failed to sit up, but she kept trying.

“Nnnn.”

It looked hopeless.

She sucked in air, sprawled out on the ground, and swung her legs to build up momentum.

“Nhhhhh.”

But she still could not get up.

Izumo watched as she flailed her limbs with more grunts of “nwah” or “nn”.

…''Damn. This is pretty nice.

“H-hey, Kaku, h-help me out a bit.”

“Sure,” he said as he cheerfully started removing her skirt.

“What are you doing!? We’re in the middle of a battle right now!”

“Calm down, Chisato,” he said as Kazami stopped moving. “My special ability ‘Adolescence 2005’ must have been reversed, too. That means I’m doing this with a pure heart. I am dedicating my life to keeping a pure heart.”

“Then that dedication is about to end.”

She swung her arms and legs, but she could not get up and thus could not reach him.

“Ah. Hey. Kh. Hit him.”

Watching her flail around helplessly calmed Izumo’s heart.

…''Wow, this is just amazing.

He thought to himself while watching her struggle like a small animal.

…''I need to keep trying tomorrow, too.

Suddenly, she got her hips up and forced a kick which hit him on the right arm.

It was a much more powerless kick than usual.

…''That’s clearly not going to hurt or send me fly-

“-ing?”

A moment later, he made five and a half flips and crashed into the ground.

The impacts and pain reached him directly.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! What was that, Chisato!? You’ve got plenty of power!”

“N-no, I don’t!” he heard her say. “Your divine protection has been reversed!”

The damage he took was being multiplied by as much as it would normally be reduced.

“Seriously?”

He clenched his teeth and looked to their enemy.

Jord was smoking a cigarette ten meters away and the hammer was resting on her shoulder.

“Well, humans? Do you get it now?” She blew smoke from the twisted corner of her mouth. “All abilities are reversed right now. Even the ones people use to fight. Now, a question. It’s a nice question because it has a nice answer. So listen. …Can you tell me what my ability was originally?”

Izumo and Kazami exchanged a glance.

After looking at Kazami’s wrinkled brow, he turned back to Jord.

They both gulped and answered in unison.

“Not acting your age?”

“You people don’t make things easy, do you!?” Jord raised the hammer. “Met expectations. Everything will go exactly how I want it to! That is the power of a god!!”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 1

2016-02-15T04:29:19Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 1: The Joy of an Outing */ typos

[[Image:OnC_v14_0030-0031.jpg|thumb]]
''Do I wish

''For it to end?

—'''We will not immerse ourselves in the past.

==Chapter 1: The Joy of an Outing==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0033.png|thumb]]
''Hidden feelings

''Can remain hidden

''They are personal and their joy can also be hidden in your heart

During the night, most of the light had vanished from the residential district, but one area remained lit by more than just the streetlights.

It was a large house surrounded by a wall.

The gate was open and a blue tarp was spread out just inside. A folded-up festival stand and its framework were piled up on the tarp and several people were working to put it away.

But one person sat out in front of the gate.

She was a woman wearing a leather jacket over a kimono. She sat on the gate’s curb and stared intently to the east.

The eyes behind her glasses were fixated on the dark residential district and the pale light in the sky beyond.

That faint brightness came from the lights shining up on the winter sky.

“Taka-Akita’s festival is still ongoing…”

Her comment received a response from the roof of the gate.

“Ms. Ryouko, waiting for Ms. Shino?”

“Yeah. Setsu-chan didn’t come back either, so I thought they might be playing together. Poyanski, you thought so too, didn’t you?”

A deep sound descended from afar. It seemed to shake the air as it travelled through the heavens.

“There have been a lot of planes today.”

“That was fighter jet.”

“I guess a former soldier would know that. Is there a war going on or something?”

Her question was answered by the young man in a suit who walked out from the gate.

“You always make things sound so dangerous, sister. From what we managed to intercept, it seems they’re holding some kind of night exercise in Kansai. But…”

“But what, Kouji?”

“There are more planes flying around than reported. And according to Toki-san, military bases in the West, Asia, the Middle East, and Russia are working together with Japan.”

Ryouko tilted her head.

“If that was true, it would be big news. There would be fighters flying around on a global scale.”

“That’s what doesn’t make sense.”

Kouji sat next to Ryouko and pulled two paper cups of coffee out from behind him.

“Bases around the world are working with Japan, but it seems no one can see any of the fighters.”

“No one can see them?”

“Like I said, the bases are really busy, but they can’t see the fighters.”

“Oh.” Ryouko nodded in understanding. “So the world’s super technology has created fighters that idiots can’t see. That would explain why you can’t see them but I can.”

“If you can see them, then tell me what’s flying overhead right now.”

She looked up in the sky and narrowed her eyes.

“Hmm. Ah! See!? It’s flying! It’s a twin-engine bomber with pink frills! Did that design come from Shibuya? Is it a Shibu-Bomber? That’s so cool!”

“Sister… You don’t have to get all worked up and lie about it.”

“I-I am not lying! I can see it! It’s flying right there! You can hear it cawing to the west!”

“Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, it sure is flying and cawing there. Yeah, no question about it.”

“What are you talking about, Kouji? Is there something wrong with your brain? Are you actually a moron? Oh, sorry. Should I not have asked that?”

“You said it first!”

“Give me some coffee and I’ll go easy on you.”

“Fine, fine.”

He held out one of the paper cups.

“Why is my sister so…”

He trailed off and looked up at the roof with the other cup.

“What about you, Poya-san?”

“Leave there and I will drink.”

“Pes has been asking for it for a while, so are you sure you want to leave it here?”

“I might not drink.”

“Sure, sure.”

Kouji set the cup on the edge of the gate’s lintel and then sat back on the curb.

“But ignoring all that activity, where has Shino-san gotten off to?”

“…”

“I haven’t seen her since she said she would buy us some drinks. Nagase-san, who was playing the Festival Stand Detective, forgot to rehydrate, so the next thing we knew, he was so dehydrated he began giving a confused roadside speech. It was something about demanding the return of the Northern Territories so he could turn them into the Bear Kingdom.”

“That would be problem. Penguin Land better name.”

“But everyone thought the speech was part of the show.”

“Best to ignore, Mr. Kouji.”

“Calm down.” Kouji sighed while quieting down the roof. “But after Nagase-san collapsed, we removed the mask and found him passed out with a refreshing smile on his face. Then again, it might have just been his face stiffening up from the dehydration. …Not that any of that is Shino-san’s responsibility.”

He then faced Ryouko who had fallen silent and he smiled bitterly.

“Do you think she isn’t coming back because the atmosphere here just wasn’t a good fit for- Why did you just collapse on your back and fall asleep, sister! At least listen to what I’m saying!”

“Eh? O-oh, sorry, Kouji. You were letting your love of little girls burst from your soul as all that pedo talk about Shi-chan, so I had to restrain myself so much I actually fell asleep. I was so serious the coffee’s caffeine didn’t stand a chance! So? Have you finished that filthy discussion, you genuine pedophile?”

“I-I didn’t say anything ‘filthy’.”

“And you won’t even admit it!? How was any of that not filthy? How are you not a pedo!? Honestly, I’m promoting you from genuine to super genuine! I hope you become a white dwarf and shrink away!”

“Not that it matters, but can’t I explode and become a black hole instead?”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble that would cause the neighbors? And are you trying to become the center of a galaxy or something? What would your galaxy be called? The Genuine Galaxy? …Yay! I said it, I said it!”

Ryouko was so worked up that she stood and clapped her hands once. Responding claps came from the nearby wall, gate, and manhole.

She then turned around.

“So what were we talking about?”

“You’re the worst, sister!!”

“K-Kouji’s being a bully!!”

“Can you stop talking on reflex and actually use your left brain!? What is even in that half of your skull!?”

“P-probably…brains, I guess?”

“Please don’t sound so unsure.”

“Oh, c’mon. It’s not like you’ve ever seen inside your own head.” She took a sip of coffee. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, but Shi-chan has a big sister. You don’t have to worry about her too much, so get inside and make me a midnight snack.”

“I wasn’t actually out here to wait for her, you know?”

He stood up and let his shoulders droop a little.

“I have a feeling she isn’t coming back, so…”

“So you came here to tell me to stop waiting? Don’t be silly.” Ryouko smiled bitterly and sat back on the curb. “I’m waiting for Shi-chan to make sure I don’t have to wait for her anymore.”

“…”

“This is a ritual for me. And you know what?”

She looked up in the sky and heard an airplane fly from south to west.

“I like to think Shi-chan holds the fate of the world in her hands, so armies from around the world are chasing after her right now. Girls like to dream, you know?”

“That is quite the dangerous dream.”

“Wow, I could hear the young master saying that!!”

Kouji smiled a bit at that, but then sighed and took a step toward the gate.

“Well, you take care of things here, sister.”

“Yes, yes. Leave this to me. …Shi-chan will be okay.”

She took a breath.

“I’m sure she’s surrounded by good people.”

“Yes,” replied the roof. “But Ms. Ryouko, are you okay? Very cold outside. Da, very cold”

Ryouko answered the roof’s concern with a gunshot.

There was a great noise.

It was a high-pitched noise that reverberated through the sky.

The surging sound was created as the atmosphere was split apart and eight aircraft were visible at the front end.

They were twin-engine fighters equipped for a ground attack.

They travelled west below the moon and their sides were decorated with American UCAT’s emblem. They belonged to American UCAT’s Atsugi Base.

The massive payload of bombs attached below their wings and the accelerators attached above the wings rid them of a normal fighter’s silhouette.

The oddly-shaped eight were flying west through the Tokai region.

The northern of the two in the lead lit up his optical communication pod.

“R1, this is BA1. BA and BB have secured our course. Shifting into weight reduction flight.”

A response came from the control craft flying above Suruga Bay far behind them.

“Testament, BA1. BA and BB, maintain your course. Attack craft teams AA and AB have also detected no enemies on their approach from Okinawa.”

“Testament,” replied BA Team’s commander before sighing. “R1, how well are the different countries working together? I want to avoid a midair collision while we’re all using stealth.”

“Testament. It seems the UCAT bases near the Sea of Japan have become a showcase for the world’s fighters. And they’re all waiting for our results.”

“Testament. So we have to do our job right as the opening act, do we? I’m sure D Team’s mechanical dragons will clean everything up once they arrive.”

“Testament. But BA1…”

“I know,” replied BA1. “The enemy has two aircraft: one mechanical dragon and one god of war. …And I remember having all of our mechanical dragons shot down by that god of war a month and a half ago.”

Also…

“I hear the pilot of that white god of war defeated our blue and white mechanical dragon.”

“Testament,” replied R1 before saying what they thought BA1 needed to hear. “Don’t think about fighting. Fly straight in, scatter your bombs while accelerating, and get out of there.”

“I’m well aware. We don’t have the armor, hand-to-hand ability, or firepower of a mechanical dragon, but we still have our top speed since we’re smaller. This kind of mission is perfect for us.”

BA1 continued speaking while tearing through the wind in the lead.

“R1, has the girl of the blue and white dragon woken yet?”

“That is highly classified, so I can’t answer.”

Everyone listening smiled bitterly at the casual tone, but then someone spoke.

“Do you think that mechanical dragon will come back from the alternate space it was sent to?”

“Don’t rely on a girl,” succinctly replied BA1. “And I doubt she wants anyone to rely on her right now. ...Not when she’s lost her power.”

But as soon as he finished speaking…

“———!?”

His fighter broke apart and scattered through the sky.

Everyone inside the control craft designated R1 froze when they realized what had happened.

But a moment later, the American UCAT members escaped their surprised despondency and managed to speak or begin moving.

They had already lost the transmission from BA1 and…

“BA2, BB1…and BA3 were lost!”

After the communications officer finished her report, a shout came in from B Team.

“This is BB4! R1… What happened!?”

When they heard BB4, everyone in R1 thought, “You were just shot down.”

They all gulped because they did not know why, but the situation would not wait for them to catch up.

“B Team, scatter and ascend!”

“R1, what is going on!? It looks like we lost some fighters! But there was no explosion or anythi-…”

The next voice was accompanied by the static of being shot down.

“I’m breaking apart!”

“BB4 has been lost!”

The communications officer seemed to have difficulty giving the report.

“A Team’s attackers will arrive in thirty-two seconds!”

Hearing that, everyone turned to one point in the aircraft.

One of Japanese UCAT’s automatons had been deployed to man the radar that checked for philosopher’s stone readings.

The businesslike maid illuminated by the pale red light was named #66. The data from the battle against 3rd-Gear and from the Army’s attack on UCAT had been downloaded into her personal memory.

“I am detecting Typhon and Alex’s readings. Typhon’s is within thirty kilometers to the west, but its output is too weak for flight.”

However…

“I am detecting a philosopher’s stone reading elsewhere, but it only ever lasts an instant.”

“Elsewhere?”

“Testament,” replied #66 while noting that the screen indicated that BB3 had been shot down as well. “The reading appears on the fighters in the instant that they are shot down!”

As she spoke, the information she was receiving confirmed her suspicions, so she turned toward the other frowning people.

“This is not an attack by Typhon or Alex! This instantaneous output is only seen from a close-range attack of a handheld concept weapon!” she said. “The enemy is using a concept weapon to bring down the fighters directly without causing an explosion!!”

BA4 was ascending toward the moon when he saw BB2 break apart in the moonlight up above him.

There was no explosion.

Nor was it broken apart.

It simply scattered its pieces with no flames or smoke.

BA4 saw fragments, the frame, pieces of explosives that scattered without a detonation, and…

“!!”

Someone stood on his own fighter’s nose.

Moonlight washed over the back of a girl holding a curved blade.

The wind blew at her hair, combat coat, and skirt and she wore red pumps on her feet.

There was nothing BA4 could do.

He could not aim his machineguns at someone standing on the nose and the missiles were meant for ground strikes.

He considered accelerating so the wind would sweep her away, but he was already travelling at three times the speed of sound which was apparently not enough.

“…!”

He suddenly rolled to catch her off guard.

He added in a bit of yaw to swing the fighter around, but…

“Impossible!”

He had been trained to react to high-speed movement, so he saw it all.

The enemy kept up with the fighter’s movements simply by lowering her hips a little.

It looked a lot like she was riding a surfboard.

For just an instant, the moonlight revealed her expression.

Her mouth and eyes showed a silent smile.

She then opened that mouth and raised the sword.

“Surprised? I had Typhon throw me from below so I could pretend to be a human shell.”

BA4 recalled that Top-Gear had two female swordsmen. The younger was nearly immortal and the older had a strange concept weapon.

“That concept weapon absorbs its target’s attack and makes it its own.”

“Yes,” replied the smiling girl. “First, I stored one of Typhon’s blasts and used that to destroy one fighter after being thrown here.”

She took a breath.

“Then I absorb the blast created by the explosion to recycle it against the next fighter.”

This enemy also controlled the direction of the destruction so that the recoil of the blast allowed her to hop to the next fighter.

They had scattered and ascended to see what their enemy was, but that enemy had moved to the first ascending fighter and worked her way down as she destroyed them.

And as for the sword she held…

“This is charged with the recycled explosions of eight fighters, so it will cause quite a boom if I use it all at once.”

At the same time, a transmission reached BA4’s ears.

It was the relieved voice of R1’s communications officer.

“BA4! A Team has arrived!”

He saw them both on the radar and with the naked eye. Eight attack craft were arriving from the west.

However, BA4 silently begged them to stay away.

As soon as they arrived, their enemy was going to hit him with the explosive power she had accumulated thus far.

It contained the explosions of eight ground-attack fighters, their explosives, and a blast from Typhon’s cannon.

That would undoubtedly burn through the sky and blow away everything there in an instant.

So BA4 tried to tell them to escape.

But in that moment, the skirt before his eyes fluttered upwards and he shouted something else instead.

“White!”

The enemy stabbed her sword downwards with a smile and BA4 scattered below the moonlight.

In the final moment, he saw her moonlit form.

Heo slowly awoke.

“…”

She seemed to have been placed in a bed on top of some fairly hard fabric.

But she did not know what position her body was in; she could not even guess.

She could not rouse any thoughts.

She felt like her mind was empty and like she was blankly watching herself from the outside.

She did not try to move or even consider it as a possibility.

Her consciousness was entirely closed.

She knew why: she did not want to remember.

If she did remember, she would also remember that there was nothing she could do.

And if there was nothing she could do, she had no power.

So there was no point in doing anything.

She was filled with a great sense of powerlessness.

Thinking about power only reminded her of the moment when she lost it.

If there was no point in being, then she thought she might as well die, but she could not even think about that too seriously and she simply tried to erase her thoughts as a substitute.

If she thought nothing, she would not lose anything. If she hoped for nothing, she would not feel anything.

The only thing at the base of her powerless thoughts was the decision to stay still and let others ignore her.

She wanted to go to some dark place.

She wanted to go to some quiet place.

She wanted to go to some solitary place.

And she felt like that wish was being granted. She felt like a wall separated her from her skin, but that skin felt air which was chilly enough to be called cold and her ears sensed silence.

“———”

She opened her eyes, but not of her own will.

She had simply abandoned even the strength she needed to keep her eyelids shut.

Even keeping her eyes shut had felt like doing something, so her eyes opened and she stared blankly forward.

She should have seen the white wall of the infirmary, but she instead saw the night sky.

Not only that, but she had a full view of that sky and all the stars therein.

“Eh?”

She was lying in a bed, but there were no windows, walls, or ceiling. There was not even a floor.

“…!?”

Fear over this unknown situation won out over her self-imposed stupor.

Her pulse raced and she sat up as she wondered what had happened.

She then realized that this was at the top of a mountain cliff and her bed had been placed on the edge of that cliff.

The bed was the reclining type used in hospitals and its white frame and blanket had been placed on the grassy clifftop such that she was looking up into the sky.

“So you’re finally up, Heo Thunderson.”

She turned toward the sudden voice to her side and saw a boy sitting at the head of the bed on the side closer to the mountain. His right arm held a machinegun encased in a white cowling.

“Harakawa?”

He did not turn her way.

He simply stared ahead and said nothing more.

His silence confused her. Why was he not saying anything?

That was when the sky split open.

Sudden red split through the dark blue of the starry and moonlit sky.

The silence was broken by a bursting sound of impact and crimson flames blossomed in the sky.

For just a moment, Heo knew what that crimson light was, but something else escaped her mouth.

“Why…?”

She gasped a bit as she looked into the sky.

She gulped, tensed her shoulders, and slowly opened her mouth again.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Don’t ask the obvious, Heo. Heo Thunderson.”

She snapped back at the word “obvious”.

“How is this obvious?”

She spoke quietly, but that was enough to sap her of strength.

She was closing up.

But she continued to speak because she wanted him to understand this at the very least.

“I have no power right now.”

However, Harakawa did not turn toward her.

She only heard him speak a quick question.

“So what, Heo Thunderson?”

This time, Harakawa did turn toward Heo.

There was more noise in the sky, so there was likely light as well.

However, he only looked at her pale face with tears welling up in the eyes.

“There is a battlefield for you whether you have any power or not.”

He could also hear noise from beyond the forest visible west of the cliff.

The American UCAT troops that had dropped them off here had engaged the enemy.

They were fighting with no air support and they would likely change their mission from an assault to a diversion.

Japanese UCAT had yet to arrive, but he knew they had to be nearby since they intended to charge in after American UCAT’s attack.

''But,'' he thought.

“I don’t know if those crazy people can win this time.”

There was a reason for that.

“First, Sayama doesn’t have Shinjou, so he can’t raise his bizarre excitement gauge to max. Also, the violent comedy couple have lost their Concept Core weapon pets. And of course, Hiba has been without Mikage so long he can act without thinking while also having Susamikado off limits.”

“That’s quite an accurate analysis.”

“Yes.” He nodded and looked Heo in the eye. “And we don’t have Thunder Fellow.”

Heo shrank back, but he did not care.

He spoke the truth without holding back.

“Our strength has fallen considerably and our enemy could keep up with us before. That means…”

That meant…

“Our enemy is far more powerful than us right now.”

And…

“There’s another problem.”

“Eh?”

Wind swept her question away.

It was the cold winter wind of a mountain.

The whiteness of her breath made the air seem all the more invisible.

And Harakawa spoke to add meaningful color to that transparency.

“I’m talking about Babel, Heo.”

He looked up at the sky above the mountain.

Beyond the forest, a great tower pierced the heavens in the dim light.

“Based on the documents he found he can read now, Sayama concluded that Babel has been partially active ever since ten years ago to restrain the activated negative concepts contained inside. And since Babel is Noah, the Top-Gear residents will be allowed in.”

He took a breath.

“Noah will treat the people of Top-Gear like gods and do whatever they say. It can create concepts as instructed by its ‘gods’, so Top-Gear can now influence this entire world.”

“B-but…!”

Heo threw her words his way, so he turned around.

As if to surpass the cold wind, she held a hand to her chest with the night sky in the background.

“What can I do in such an important fight!?”

“I have fingers, so I can pull a trigger.”

Harakawa immediately answered her and stood from the bed.

“I have eyes, so I can see the enemy approaching.”

He spoke.

“I have a mouth, so I can inform people of things.”

He continued speaking.

“I have ears, so I can grasp the situation on the battlefield.”

And…

“I have a body, so I can show people that something is there to support them.”

Also…

“Everyone has this much, Heo Thunderson. …Most people don’t have the kind of power we did.”

''Now that I think about it, Sayama’s the representative example of that,'' thought Harakawa.

Heo stared blankly up at him and he spoke toward her powerless eyes.

“But even if I lost my power, I can still drive a motorcycle and I have pretty good eyes. It’s no more of an advantage than anyone else, but that kind of advantage is important on the battlefield.”

What about you?

“Being the same as everyone else doesn’t make you powerless, Heo Thunderson. If you make good use of the slight advantages you have, they will bring even more power. And if you continue to train those advantages and accumulate even more…”

''You’ll probably become the kind of person people call stupid.

''But,'' he thought. ''What about you?

“In battles, everyone is shorthanded. Everyone wants someone by their side when things are feeling hopeless and they want something to protect. The battlefield is for the people who can fight, but more than that…it’s a helpless place that is always asking for help.”

He looked straight at Heo from where he stood.

“So. Are you willing to reach out to the battlefield that is asking for help?” he asked. “And I know it’s a little late for this…but put on some clothes, Heo Thunderson. They’re on the edge of the bed.”

“Eh?”

Heo looked down at herself.

The blanket had fallen from her upper body when she sat up, so it was completely bare.

“Eh? Ah, w-wait. What is this!?”

“It was your teacher that removed your clothes, so don’t ask me. She also put you on the transport helicopter.”

“W-wait a second! Removing some of them is one thing, but why am I completely naked!?”

“Isn’t that your cruel personal skill? Also, Germans are all perfectionists.”

“Y-you find a reason for everything, don’t you!?”

To protest, she gathered the blanket in front of her chest and pounded on the bed.

“Then why…why is everyone trying to get me to fight!?”

She hit the bed again as she shouted.

“Tell me that! Because I’ve lost track of why I’m even here!”

Harakawa heard a shaking sound as she hit the bed.

Heo’s eyebrows were raised in anger, but her face was gradually rising and leaning backwards.

“Huh? Harakawa?”

“What is it, Heo?”

“For some reason, I can see the sky even though I’m sitting up.”

“Yeah, and it looks to me like you and the bed are tipping backwards.”

“Oh, c’mon, Harakawa. You make it sound like the bed is shaking and falling off the cliff.”

“If that was enough for you to understand, I must be better with words than I thought. The bed’s about to reach a ninety degree tilt.”

And it did.

Heo was thrown out into the air.

She gasped as the bed toppled over.

It seemed to scrape her right shoulder as it rotated around to point straight down.

…''The sky…

She was tipped a bit on her back, wrapped in the blanket, and falling.

She felt weightless and the night sky quickly grew more distant.

There was a drop of around a dozen meters behind her.

If she fell, she would die.

She would be no more.

And at the bottom of her vision, she saw Harakawa standing on the edge of the cliff.

…''Harakawa.

But she noticed that he was not trying to help her.

He simply stared at her while still holding the gun.

He did not budge.

She felt like he was pushing her away.

Did she not matter to him?

…''Even I thought I didn’t matter…

And now the person she most wanted to understand her was pushing her away.

''Then this must be the end,'' she thought.

…''Eh?

She noticed a certain fact and a certain contradiction.

First, the fact.

Who did she most want to understand her even as she felt she did not matter?

Wasn’t it Harakawa, the one who had chosen to entrust this with her even though she did not matter?

But that created a contradiction.

Why did she need to choose the end if Harakawa understood her?

Why would that be the case if he had given her his understanding?

She had no power. She was physically weak, she was young, she was short, and her breasts were small. Her breasts and her butt had grown a little recently, although she did not plan to announce that fact until it was more visually noticeable and she had no idea what she was thinking about anymore, but in short, she was powerless.

But she was not alone.

So what should she choose now: the stars visible in the sky or the motionless boy?

“…”

She gulped as she fell.

She was already passing below the edge of the cliff.

The blanket wrapped around her began to flutter in the wind and gravity pulled her downwards.

It was too late.

She had noticed her contradiction and what she wanted, but it was too late now.

However, she saw a new crimson flower blossom in the sky.

In that brief moment, she moved. She reached her hand toward the sky as if to pluck those flower petals.

She thrust her hand skyward and she received an answer.

A power forcibly stretched her body.

It was Harakawa’s hand grasping her own hand.

“It’s all right.”

Her body shook and her entire weight bore down on her right hand and shoulder.

But her entire body was lifted upwards. It was a slow movement that could not quite be called an ascent.

“Yes, there is only one reason, Heo. As I said, it’s ‘all right’. In other words, everything is ‘right’. So it’s all right, Heo.”

She saw him raise his eyebrows in a smile as he pulled up her hand.

“Let’s get to the battlefield, Heo. The idiots will be there soon, too.”

Light raced through darkness.

The light rushing through the forest at the bottom of a mountain was a high speed train.

However, it was already late at night, so no such train should have been running.

Nevertheless, the streamlined front car towed the rest of the cars as they broke through the wind on their westward journey.

Not all of the cars were for passengers.

A few specialized transportation cars were positioned right after the front car and behind the passenger cars.

Also, the passenger cars were covered in armor and figures were visible on their roofs.

Those figures were automatons wearing combat maid uniforms.

Two automatons stood atop the transport container loaded on the second car. They stared sharply forward and sent out their shared thoughts.

“Our current speed is two hundred and seventy kilometers per hour. I have determined we have made up for the time lost transferring over from the transport helicopter.”

“This is an excellent train. But I never knew IAI was developing anything like this.”

They looked down at the racing vehicle below their feet.

“This next generation high-speed train has a top speed of four hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, and yet it is a high-speed stealth train that counteracts the sounds of collisions by creating buffer bands between the cars.”

“They wanted to name it after the fact that riding it is so nice it actually feels good, so they had someone sum up that idea in a single word.”

The automatons looked to the side of the car.

Someone had used a brush to paint “Creepy” in large letters.

“I have determined this is incomprehensible.”

“Testament. We are about to leave the Tokaido Line, so get ready down below.”

Those shared memories were sent to #8, the automaton inside one of the armored passenger cars.

Inside the long passenger car, #8 listened to the report from the automatons on the roofs.

It was almost time to enter the battle.

However, she tried to be considerate. So as not to rush those around her, she served tea and coffee to the people in armored uniforms sitting in the rows of three seats and then slowly spoke.

“Okay, break’s over.”

“Ehhh! Already!?”

Hearing them shout, she wondered if she had worked a little too hard making the break seem nice.

But she refocused and looked across everyone there.

“The Creepy is about to enter autonomous mode. We will accelerate to gain some inertial force, so I have determined the drinks I just served will be your last time to rest.”

“Testament,” replied everyone inside the white light of the car.

They were all from Japanese UCAT’s special division and most of them were from Team Leviathan.

Izumo and Kazami were amusing themselves by playing cards with Sibyl and Boldman while the others were looking down at their card version of mahjong or their handheld game systems.

“Report. American UCAT failed to achieve air superiority over the Mount Ikoma region. They now plan to send their mechanical dragons in by land.”

Everyone clearly focused on the incoming transmission.

After a moment, light boards were handed over the backs of the seats and passed out to everyone. They displayed the documents that each platoon and company used to confirm with their commander what they should do.

Each time a new announcement came in, the text would gain details or additional opinions. By the time they set foot on the battlefield, each commander would know what they needed to do.

…''But…

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> looked to her side.

Sayama sat alone in the very first row of seats.

His seat was fully reclined, a towel covered his eyes, and Baku sat on his head as he slept.

…''Will he be okay?

She had heard that Shinjou was badly injured and also in conceptual danger.

He received regular updates on her state by cellphone, but the situation did not look good. He had finally gone to sleep after Ooki had promised to email him if anything changed.

There was nothing #8 could do, but the very fact that she could not think of any kind of plan made her painfully aware of the wasted cycles of her activity clock.

But he asked nothing of her.

She felt this time waiting for instructions was wasted, but…

…''This means that he is okay.

She upped the thought priority level of that fact she could take from her records. She told herself not to think about anything else or to make unnecessary decisions.

A maid only had to trust in her master because an automaton would not serve someone she could not trust.

Suddenly, she thought of the Moirai.

The Gear reservations had decided to maintain their silence on the current situation.

That was obviously because they had decided the conflict between Top-Gear and Low-Gear was still ongoing.

They had entrusted everything to the Leviathan Road meeting and had said they were waiting for the results.

The Concept Cores must have had a similar understanding because they did not display any kind of desire to be saved.

The only people from other Gears taking part in this attack were the automatons and the people from 2nd or 6th who had joined UCAT and Low-Gear.

But #8 sent Moira 1st access to her shared thoughts and asked what to do when her master looked about to lose heart.

They had given each other access permissions when they had met the other day. She had assumed she could make use of her downtime by receiving some new information or tips.

“Moira 1st-sama.”

After connecting, auditory information streamed in from Moira 1st.

“Yes, Lady Miyako, tonight’s dinner is your favorite instant ramen: Drenched #1 – Soy Sauce Flavor. Say ‘ah’, Lady Miyako.”

“Hold on. That’s really not something you do with ramen.”

“Ehhh? You don’t want to? Does it have to have mayonnaise for that?”

“That isn’t the issu-... What do you think the rest of you are looking at!?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> did not listen any longer because it would be an invasion of their privacy. She determined it was an event mission to raise their master-maid intimacy level.

…''If only Sayama-sama would give me that kind of opportunity.

''No,'' she determined. ''Those opportunities are probably being given to Shinjou-sama.

''In that case, I want to set things up for the two of them,'' she thought while closing her eyes.

She cooled her thoughts with a sigh and looked to Sayama.

She simply pulled a blanket from the container above the window and placed it over him, but she felt that was enough. The train would enter autonomous mode in just a few minutes.

With the blanket on him, Sayama stirred a bit and spoke in his sleep as if groaning.

“Ahhh, Shinjou-kun, you are so bold… Y-you cannot mean it. You’re taking it all in your mouth…and…and swallowing it? Yes, if you are going to drink all of the soup, it has to be this high-calorie, high-sodium Drenched #1!”

After noticing he seemed to be having a good dream, she debated whether she should inform Moira 1st of this synchronicity or plainly tell him that instant ramen made you fat. But before she made a decision, she heard someone speak from the opposite seat.

“Are we almost to the battlefield, #8-kun?”

She turned around to find Ooshiro and simply glared at him.

“Why are you here?”

“Wah! You’ve already decided I’m an outcast!? Are you shunning me!? You are, aren’t you!?”

“Please quiet down. More importantly, Ooshiro-sama, are you familiar with the word ‘useless’?”

He raised his hands as a sign of protest.

“I-I am to useful!”

She nodded and accurately reproduced an expression she had recently learned.

“Ooshiro-sama, is this the appropriate way of expressing disrespect? I am still not used to this expression.”

“That’s not just disrespect! That’s a look of pure contempt!”

“Testament. Thank you very much. As it was received much better than expected, I will make ample use of it from now on. Anyway, Ooshiro-sama, you are too thin to act as a shield and get in our way too much to act as a wall, so can’t you do something about that?”

“W-well, you see… I’m quite useful. I have intelligence, strength, and beauty!!”

He stood up and struck a flirtatious pose, so #8 looked around.

She saw the others waving their hands in front of their faces, so she nodded.

“Ooshiro-sama. Please choose one of the following: 1. Pretend you never said that. 2. Take back what you said. 3. Die and apologize. …Which would you like?”

The others all wrote “3! 3!” on their light boards and raised them high, but #8 shook her head.

“You mustn’t do that, everyone. I have determined this is a problem Ooshiro-sama must solve on his own.”

“#-#8-kun, you are surprisingly fair. I’m a little moved.”

“Testament.” She nodded and slapped his head thrice. “Now, please think carefully. 3 is the only real option, after all.”

“How is that thinking carefully!?”

''The majority already decided for you, so stop being so selfish,'' she thought just as an electronic tone played from the car’s speakers.

“Um, uh, um, in thirty minutes, the, uh, Creepy will…enter autonomous mode. Uh, we will begin, uh, accelerating soon, so, uh, all passengers had better stay in your damn seats!! …Uh, I mean please remain seated.”

They all sat back down and #8 started to sit in a nearby seat but hesitated.

However, she ultimately took the seat behind Sayama instead of her usual one.

At the same time, she saw the boy slowly sit up in the seat in front of her.

He raised the seat, so she could not see him, but she heard him.

“#8-kun, thank you for the blanket. …It was short, but I had a wonderful dream. I appreciate it.”

She compared his voiceprint with one from the past but found it was lacking something.

''But,'' she thought. ''If he is willing to thank the one who serves him, he must have regained his awareness that he is my master.

''So he should be fine,'' she decided while speaking with the others via shared memory.

“Get ready. We are about to accelerate.”

A moment later, that was exactly what they did.

The automatons standing atop the high-speed train created a wall of gravitational control to combat the pressure of the wind as they accelerated.

Their clothes, hair, and everything else fluttered and bent in the wind.

“And our hearts only bend to the will of our master!”

The maids saw the track turn a bit to the north. The Tokaido Line turned north to the Kyoto region and then south toward Osaka.

The track had no sharp curves, so the trains could maintain their speed. It was a gradual but definite northward turn.

However…

“That will not take us to the Mount Ikoma region in south Osaka!”

Then what were they to do?

The answer was given by the shouts of the two automatons standing on the front car.

“Prepare autonomous mode!!”

They were answered by the maids standing on the transport container on the second car.

“Prepare!!”

An automaton rushed from both emergency exits on each car.

They pushed at the wind with their gravitational control. There was one on either side of the twelve cars for a total of twenty four.

They all spread their hands outward.

“Contact!”

As soon as they yelled that word, the white pallet covering the second car suddenly leaped into the air.

The wind carried the giant lid into the night sky and something was revealed below.

“Track Facility Mechanism ‘Moirai’! Begin deployment!”

A giant spindle machine rose from the car.

The mechanism was seven meters tall, twenty meters long, and shaped like an upside-down iron. It had twelve giant spindles on either side, but those spindles were not wrapped with thread.

They were wrapped with rails and the front spindles launched those iron threads.

The two metal rails broke the sound barrier as they flew forward.

The twin lines of steel tore through the night and passed the front car, but the automatons on the front car did not overlook them.

“Begin spinning!!”

Those front two used their full gravitational control to draw the flying tracks toward their hands.

They bent the metal thread down as if rotating it around to the nose of the front car.

“Contact!!”

At the same time, the four automatons standing to the front of the second car stepped down on the back of the front car’s roof.

The high-gravity attack bent the roof, but it also noticeably lifted the nose of the car.

And the car landed atop the track being released from that very same train.

Now that it was on its self-laid path, it only had to continue on.

The spinning machine spun out the track, the automatons on the front car pulled it in, and the maids on the back car supported the bottom of the autonomous track with their gravitational control.

All of this created one thing.

“A high-speed train which can choose its own path!”

The two on the front car accurately bent the track toward the sky.

The sonic train moved at greater than four hundred kph as its own track carried it into empty air.

One of the spindles was exhausted in no time at all.

“Only twenty six kilometers until we arrive!”

“I have determined we have enough to spare!”

The automatons smiled amid the roar of the wind and the creaking of metal.

Gravitational control was their own technique and they were measuring levels of output they had never seen before.

Where did their limits lie?

As the moonlit automatons learned just that, they expressed the feeling with a single word: pleasant.

After all, they were fulfilling their job. That job was to transport the fighters to the battlefield.

And this was a job only they could do. What word would better describe that than pleasant?

The overheating, creaking, excessive calculations, and all the other burdens felt truly pleasant to them.

The train raced through the night sky.

The wind was cooling, the night was heavy, and the sounds were those of work.

“———!!”

They flew through the dark night toward some moonlit mountains.

They had already passed over the fields and reached the forest at the base of the mountains.

An expressway was visible below and they used that asphalt as a stepping stone.

“Here we go!”

The train leaped once more.

This time, they flew beyond the southern forest and into the mountains.

Based on the information gathered before leaving, there was a river there and they could follow it to the eastern Mount Ikoma region.

It was a fifteen kilometer journey which would take less than three minutes at their current speed.

They flew.

As if throwing their entire bodies forward, the automatons became one with their speed and desired to advance.

Shadowy trees raced by on either side and a river reflected the moon below.

They continued on.

The roaring sound and the wind bent the trees and the shockwave of their passing sent a reverse cascade of water and leaves into the sky after they passed.

The automatons had linked their sight and hearing devices as they focused only on their destination.

They kept on a straight line toward the mountains that had produced the river below.

…''Here we go.

They all thought the same thing.

…''We pull the humans onward to mountains filled with nature.

This was something they had been unable to do in 3rd-Gear.

It was always near the top on the lists of things they wanted to do, but it was always pushed further and further down the list.

They had made all of the food and drink being handed out inside the train.

It would have been perfect had it been daytime and sunny.

It did not matter whether they were heading into battle or not.

The goal was for the master to decide. The means was for the maid to decide.

A trip to the mountains required a box lunch.

And now, they were pulling the humans onward. Just like a maid leading her master to some flowers she had found in the mountains, they predicted what would make their masters happy and guided them to the battlefield.

Such a happy battle.

But…

“———!?”

The automatons on the front car saw an explosion.

The trees on either side of the river up ahead were suddenly blasted into the sky.

There was no sound. When breaking the sound barrier, that was to be expected.

Something charged toward them at faster than the speed of sound.

“That is…a mechanical dragon!” shouted an automaton’s mind.

A mechanical dragon with red, white, and blue armor flew their way with its main cannon mouth already opened.

It had been lying in wait to attack them.

There was only an instant until the attack, but the automatons continued their work. They continued spinning the track without fear.

“Good luck!!”

Alex did not hesitate.

Eighty percent of his armor had been replaced, but his frame had only had charms for the automatic healing of metal attached and his injuries were not yet healed.

Even so, he did not hesitate.

While Typhon was being worked on, Tatsumi had let it throw her so she could hold onto their air superiority. Similarly, it was his job to prevent Team Leviathan from rushing in.

Mikoku had already entered Babel on Noah’s guidance.

After ensuring their air superiority, Tatsumi had shifted to defense.

The others were deployed in formation and plenty of dolls had been sent out.

So Alex did not hesitate.

“This is a showdown!!”

He flew straight toward the train that acted like a long, subsonic shell.

He had no intention of firing on it from hiding or from the side.

…''Justice is justice because it brings its righteousness head-on!<ref>A play on words using the kanji for “justice”.</ref>

So he accelerated.

“Destroy the enemy on sight! Alex Forcer!!”

He prepared to fire his main cannon, but he saw something just before he did.

As the train continued to spin its track and rush forward, the roof of one of the back cars blasted into the sky.

The white lid was cast aside like a cloak to reveal what lay below.

“A black god of war!?”

That was precisely what stood up.

However, this was not Tatsumi’s enemy, Susamikado.

It was a similar yet different model.

“Is that Susahito Custom!?”

As if to answer, Susahito Custom calmly moved.

It forcefully stood in the wind and water vapor trailed from the corners of its armor.

“…!”

It held an anti-god of war rifle.

Alex recognized it as one of those used in the fight against Typhon.

Normally, it would not have been enough to break through a mechanical dragon’s armor.

However, their relative speeds and his imperfect state could change that.

“Bring it on!!”

He shouted and they both fired.

A moment later, the earth and the sky exploded along a straight line and that signaled the beginning of the battle.

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume14_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 35

2016-02-12T05:33:33Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 35: Messenger from the South */ small typos

==Chapter 35: Messenger from the South==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0087.jpg|thumb]]
''The south

''Such a troublesome direction

''The circle narrows in on something

'''Point Allocation (The Cast Has Gathered)

“Wh-what is going on!?” asked Asama of the sign frame sent to her and the explosions of sound and light overhead. “We just sent our ambassadors to the three nations and everything was looking fine, so what’s with this stuff whooshing by and going boom and then all the danger coming in from Edo!?”

“Ahh, I more or less understood that, so is it too late for me?”

On the land port terrace, Masazumi somehow managed to keep herself from hanging her head and instead looked up into the sky.

Bright lights were scattering there as evidence that ether cannons were striking the Ariake.

After a short delay, the sounds of impact arrived like distant thunder.

She could feel the overlapping rumblings in her gut and she heard the columns and walls of the control building creaking a little below her.

Alarm bells began to ring in the town of Mito. Sign frames opened around the town to guide people to evacuation sites. Five larger sign frames opened in the town’s sky.

“Hello. I’m Mishina Shouichi, manager for Kantou IZUMO. Sorry about all the troub-…”

Voices erupted from the town.

“Don’t display a guy in Mito’s sky!”

“Don’t waste that high resolution divine monitor on a close up of a guy!”

“Any married men can get lost!”

Asama looked to the town visible past the forest and below the hill.

“Yes, yes,” she nodded. “Mito might be one of the Far East’s provisionally ruled lands, but they’re a lot like us, aren’t they?”

“They also responded well to Mitotsudaira’s transport ship surfing earlier, so I’m glad they can handle a panic.”

The sign frame’s image switched over to an automaton. She had long light brown hair, a narrow face, and closed eyes.

“Good day, everyone. I am Ariake Captain ‘Ariake’. Over.”

A cheer rose from the town.

“Eight shots are about to hit. Over.”

Explosions of light filled the sky and fear filled the people’s voices, but “Ariake” and the interior of the Ariake behind her remained motionless.

“My ship is nine kilometers long, four kilometers wide, and two kilometers tall, so ultra-long range cannon fire from Kraken-class escort ships is simply not enough to harm-… What is it, Mishina-sama? Oh, the Date clan has sent out a god of war unit. Yes, I have detected them, so it would indeed seem they have. I have determined this puts even the Ariake in danger. In other words, there is a possibility of damage. …Everyone, please follow the original plan and head to the evacuation sites. Over.”

The people raised a cry of agreement while evacuating from the town of Mito. They were moving southwest, toward the sea.

“That’s Kantou IZUMO for you…”

Masazumi wondered why Asama sounded so serious yet did not look back her way, but to understand the current situation, she described the situation before her eyes.

“Sviet Rus, Mogami, and Date are being monitored by Hashiba, so they’ve turned on Musashi.”

“Shift the engine division to standby!! Men, give each other a kick in the rear and get to your posts!”

The engine division’s chief shouted over the running pressurizers and everyone replied with “judge”.

As Unneeded #4 of the Sanada Ten Braves, Isa had infiltrated the area and she nodded with her disguised face.

While some took off running and some instructed others to follow them, she too began to run. She took up the rear position of a group of those following someone, but when they came across a different group that seemed to be heading below ground…

“Oh, I’ll go this way.”

She switched groups and started below ground.

She wanted to get below the engine division.

…''Where they have the gravitational acceleration equipment.

Gravitational acceleration was the cornerstone of the Musashi’s high-speed mobility. If she could set up some sabotage there and trigger it at some important moment, the giant ship would be nothing more than a heavy hunk of metal.

However, something interested her beyond simply setting up the sabotage. The Musashi was entering standby mode, so…

…''The engine division has decided the Musashi is cable of leaving port!

The Musashi could take flight at any time.

Of course, it was not in a perfect state just yet. The residential areas were not complete and a lot of the armor had yet to be added on. However, this situation told her something.

“The Musashi’s expanded combat abilities are ready enough that they think they can finish them up after leaving port.”

''What kind of weapons did they add on?'' wondered Isa.

Since the night before, she had seen the ships’ surfaces, including the covered areas. The combat improvements were primarily expanded armor and added cannons.

But that would not be enough to take on Hashiba’s Azuchi Castle. The Musashi’s added cannons were single cannons added to the edges of the surface areas and the dual main cannons on the first starboard, port, and central ships while the Azuchi Castle had triple main cannons and more than double the cannons overall.

Isa was interested in the line of gravitational accelerator pressurizers stretching front to back along the bottom of Musashino’s bridge and she was interested in the ram-like object on Musashino’s bow.

The former was likely to increase overall speed by adding accelerators to the bridge that became dead weight during gravitational acceleration. And the latter…

…''They sliced the Regno Unito in two at Mikawa, so are they planning something similar?

Like with a galley, they may have been planning to skewer the enemy with a ram and then begin hand-to-hand combat or close-range cannon fire.

…''But P.A. Oda’s ships are generally galley types, so the Azuchi has the upper hand there too.

''And,'' thought Isa. ''They didn’t have enough time.

In Isa’s opinion, they needed heavy armor and a large main cannon to compete with the Azuchi Castle and Hashiba’s fleet. Equipping something like that would require more than just changing the ship’s exterior. The interior would need to be reinforced and quite a few design changes would have to be made.

But Musashi had not even spent a full month at the Ariake.

She doubted they could make such fundamental changes in that time. Of course, it was possible that was only a failing in her own imagination.

…''But the materials moving around inside the Ariake and the exterior I’ve seen doesn’t point toward such major reinforcement work having been done.

What work had been done as the foundation of their ability to fight?

“Hey, is the Musashi still not going to fight, even with all this going on?”

She spoke to the worker in front of her as she followed the group below ground.

The young man looked like someone who had recently graduated and he must have seen Isa as his junior. He and the adults running with him all looked back her way.

“I don’t really know. I don’t know what’s going on up above.”

“Yeah, we all have our posts,” said one of the adults. “The exterior group was the one that attached the cannons and we’re the power system group. I haven’t seen you around, so are you with the boss?”

“No, I came from below to do some odd jobs. …I thought I might be more help here than with the other group.”

She then added an “oh” of realization and feigned being a newcomer to all this.

“I can do wiring and stuff. I was doing that up above.”

The men laughed while running past a sign frame sounding an alarm.

“Then maybe we can have you crawl into some tight areas. The gravitational acceleration sector has gotten pretty cramped.”

She wanted to ask what they meant by that, but she resisted. She only wanted to ask because she could guess what things were like inside, but there was something else she had to say now.

“Slipping into tight spaces is my specialty. But is it really that cramped? Is something stuffed in there?”

“It moves now. No, really it’s that the movable range has been expanded.” The previous young man grabbed at a square space of empty air with his right hand. “The gravitational acceleration sector is lined with accelerators like this and they all turn in the direction of pressurization while accelerating, you see. Before, they were only made for moving straight ahead or turning left and right, but we’ve removed that restriction.”

While wondering what that meant, Isa tilted her head and asked a question.

“So it’s easier to change direction now?”

“It’s probably easier to control while drifting too. The piloting group – that is, the bridge automatons and my underclassmen – thought it up.”

“Quit trying to act like their superior,” cut in the adults with bitter smiles.

Isa saw the young man give a similar smile.

…''Oh, whoops, whoops.

''This place isn’t all that bad,'' she thought.

“Ah ha ha.”

She was allowed to laugh during conversations like this.

She let the laugh come naturally and the adults called out to her.

“If you’re free, then learn the ropes here and then head to the back.”

“Are you already done here?”

“Mostly. Takao and Oume are taking a bit more time for the inner hull.”

“There are gravitational accelerators in the inner hull of Takao and Oume?”

''I didn’t know that,'' she thought.

Musashi’s gravitational acceleration was generally done from the outer hulls. The inner hulls were only used as auxiliary accelerators to avoid needing any buffering between ships. But according to the young man…

“Judge. I think they’re for more mobility. Before, pretty much only the accelerators in the outer hull were used during gravitational acceleration, but I think they’re going to have some open up from the inner hull too. I doubt it will be easy since Musashino and Okutama will have to manage the buffering, but it should increase our speed. Also,” he said slowly. “That should increase our odds of survival too.”

“Survival?”

What that meant changed depending on how she took that word. That may have been why he forced a smile.

“Well, that’s only if we’re unlucky. The Musashi has some tough defenses, after all.”

“Hey,” cut in the adults while sending nods and the remnants of smiles her way. “Leave it at that. Part of our job is to, well, increase that luck. And it’s time to get to work on that.”

They pointed forward and a long, dull sound came from above.

“That was the third barrage. The gap between was shorter than before.”

Which meant…

“The three nations surrounding us are getting closer and attacking more seriously.”

While the Musashi sat motionless inside the Ariake, Musashino’s bridge cut off all footage from outside to become a space surrounded by white walls. During the recent remodeling, the bridge had become an information processing control room, but…

“Enter standby mode! After confirming internal connections, release all divine transmission pathways and synchronize all ships under the defenses of the Asama Shrine’s divine protections. Over.”

“Musashi’s” voice reached them via voice divine transmission and the light of sign frames glowed from the four walls and the floor.

“Judge. Over.”

Text began to scroll by and several images began to play.

A portion of one white wall slid slowly inwards to reveal the torii-style program chip within. An automaton entered from the corridor with the program chip for leaving port loaded on a cart.

“Make the switch. Over!”

On “Musashino’s” signal and command, an automaton on the bridge used her gravitational control to pull the old program chip out. The automaton with the cart stuck the cart and its chip into the opened hole. After pushing it inside, she exchanged a glance with the bridge automaton.

“Connected! Over.”

“Confirmed. Over.”

She tilted the cart before pulling it out. The previous chip was placed on the now-empty cart with gravitational control and the automaton pushed the cart back out into the corridor.

Meanwhile, the wall closed with the new chip inside and many more sign frames appeared on the bridge.

“We have the engine division’s authorization! Shifting to standby mode! Over.”

A model of the Musashi appeared in the center of the bridge. It was an enlarged version of the model Suzu had made. It was made of white light and blue light gradually covered the bottom.

“Hull-style Special #06 Susashizunami Mk. III. Output is slightly lowered but within acceptable ranges in the third ships. Activation possible in five minutes twenty-seven seconds. Over.”

The automaton handling divine transmissions by the wall suddenly turned back toward the others.

“While checking Naito-sama and Naruze-sama’s information, a divine transmission arrived from Kashima Shrine on the surface. Connecting to the main screen! Over.”

With those words, a torii-style sign frame appeared on the front end of the ceiling.

It displayed a fleet flying calmly above the southern plain.

“That is a Hashiba fleet. There are seventy-two belonging to Hashiba, sixteen belonging to Houjou, and twenty-four belonging to P.A. Oda. The warships have moved out to the front, so I will zoom in while providing commentary. Over.”

The ship in the very lead was a Kraken-class diplomatic ship that could also be seen as a decorated warship.

The top was a white boxy structure supported by four pillars. The bottom was a white P.A. Oda galley-style ship.

“Is that…?”

When the automatons saw the cloud decorations with gilded edges, they matched the image to their memories.

As they all worked to retrieve data on the ship, one on the starboard side raised her right hand.

“According to my data, that is the Jurakudai, a Hashiba diplomatic battleship. According to the history recreation, it belongs to Hashiba Hidetsugu, Hashiba Hideyoshi’s nephew. Over.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 34|Chapter 34]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 36|Chapter 36]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 34

2016-02-10T16:59:59Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 34: Travelers in Three Directions */ typos

==Chapter 34: Travelers in Three Directions==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0069.jpg|thumb]]
''What is the difference between

''The things seen at one’s destination

''And the people seen at one’s destination?

'''Point Allocation (Arriving or Going)

Someone on the surface viewed the three fleets in the sky.

It was Masazumi. She, Asama, and Kimi were using a triple telescopic sign frame to view them from the terrace on the roof of the control building for the large land port in Mito’s forest. The sign frame showed the Musashi’s diplomatic ships joining the fleets arriving from three different directions.

The ones bound for Date and Mogami had apparently already arrived at their respective fleets. A defense barrier was placed around both the fleets and the newly arrived diplomatic ships to demonstrate that they had been welcomed in.

However, the ship bound for Sviet Rus had been a little delayed, so that fleet had to wait.

“I guess we’re letting them know we’ll be here until the diplomatic ships reach them.”

The armored transport ships that had seen the diplomatic ships off were passing by overhead on their way back to the Ariake.

Masazumi and the other girls had yet to return to the Ariake.

Some ships had left Mito for the Musashi, but Masazumi wanted to avoid returning to the hidden Ariake until the diplomatic ships had arrived. They had only sent Futayo back ahead of them because she was injured.

Futayo had been found unconscious and sitting in front of a shop.

She had likely intended to take a short rest after getting up and starting back to the land port on her own. She had been sitting on the bench in front of a sweets shop with her spear in her arms. They had only learned where she was because Mitotsudaira had been informed by the locals.

…''Will she be okay?

Naomasa had said the Ariake was ready to receive her, but Masazumi was still worried.

…''To think Hashiba’s fighters would attack here.

If Hashiba entered the Mito territory – even to reject it – she would be interfering with the history recreation beyond her era, so she had sent the commanders serving her who would live to that era.

“Even if Hashiba didn’t order that, they were willing to act on their own to help her.”

Masazumi was feeling a little concerned, but Asama walked over with a smile.

“It’s okay, Masazumi. We’ll be safe once we get back to the Musashi.”

“Judge. I know that. …I shouldn’t be letting my concern show that plainly.”

“Maa.”

“Yes, yes.”

Masazumi pressed her cheek against Tsukinowa. Asama must have decided Tsukinowa could handle comforting Masazumi because she simply opened a sign frame while still smiling.

“I just received divine transmissions saying Yoshiyasu and Adele have arrived at Mogami’s fleet and Suzu-san and Urquiaga-kun have arrived at Date’s fleet. That just leaves Toori-kun’s group. They were delayed a little, but they probably needed some time to refresh after that battle.”

“The negotiations with the three nations have only just begun and we’ve already run into issues.”

“I know,” agreed Asama before giving a gasp of realization. She tapped on the Date fleet on the north end of the sign frame.

The magnification increased. When Hanami flew in and tapped on it a few more times, the blurry image was processed and the god of war mothership Kawai Castle became visible in the center of the distant Date fleet.

Kawai Castle had deactivated its defense spells to let the diplomatic ship in, so its deck was visible. The specks seen there were probably Urquiaga and Suzu. There were also some diplomatic aides including automatons.

Someone left the bridge to greet them.

“Is that Date Narumi?”

“Eh? Is that a surprise?”

“Yes. Kawai Castle belongs to Oniniwa Tsunamoto. And is Date Narumi wearing what I think she is?”

The image was small, but it looked like a dress blowing in the wind.

Narumi felt something she had not felt in a long time.

…''Complete and utter regret. Why would I go out in the wind dressed like this?

Her regret came from the light material with no armor. It probably would have been fine on the surface or indoors, but on an aerial ship’s deck, the wind whipped the clothing around even with air buffering.

It was the same wind she always felt, so why was she so bothered by it? Her hair whipping around had never been an issue, but the westerly wind from the right was also affecting her dress’s skirt.

“…Ah.”

If she did not hold it down, it would lift up and reveal her legs, the base of her legs, and her butt. She normally had those areas exposed to more easily summon Unturning Centipede, but it felt careless to leave the areas hidden by the skirt so defenseless.

…''Kh.

She found a way of holding her hands that held down about eighty percent of the skirt. She placed her right hand down to hold the skirt against the front of her right thigh. She gave up on the left of the skirt and faced forward.

“Musashi 2nd Special Duty Officer Kiyonari Urquiaga, are you the ambassador?”

“No, the ambassador is Mukai here, the Musashi’s Acting Captain. I am merely accompanying her.”

He looked to the hand on her skirt.

“But what are you doing there?”

“I-I am not doing anything. Whatever are you talking about?”

“I see.”

As the half-dragon nodded, Ambassador Mukai looked up at him while holding her bangs and skirt down against the wind.

“The wind…is strong.”

“Judge. The Musashi’s atmospheric defenses are set to residential standards, so the wind will naturally be stronger on a warship. But…”

He looked to Narumi’s right hand on her skirt.

“Mukai, you could learn a thing or two from the Date clan. …This level of wind is apparently not worth mentioning for them.”

Narumi seriously considered knocking him to the deck, but then she heard the Chancellor’s Officers support members whispering behind her.

“Hey, maybe we should have upped the buffering more. Suzu-san is having trouble!”

“B-but this way we get to see her squirming around like that.”

“I feel bad for her yet I can’t deny I’m enjoying it. Is this what you call man’s sinful nature?”

''That girl must be fairly popular,'' realized Narumi as the half dragon approached her while opening a sign frame to display a few pieces of official paperwork.

[[Image:Horizon4B_0075.jpg|thumb]]

“Now, let us begin our diplomatic visit with a handshake.”

Narumi realized what he was after when she saw his outstretched right arm and three fingers raised from his right front wing, but this was a scene of diplomacy. She maintained a smile and returned his handshake with her right hand. She squeezed as hard as she could with her false hand, but he accepted it with the strength of a half-dragon. Then the wind blew in from the right.

Without the hand to hold it down, her skirt blew violently upwards and the half-dragon immediately let go of her hand.

“Sorry. You should have shaken hands with Mukai, not me. I got a little carried away there.”

…''Why you-…!!

Her smile stiffened as she silently protested, but she still shook hands with the actual ambassador. The ambassador was able to use her left hand to hold down her skirt as the wind was coming from her left.

''I chose the wrong position on the battlefield,'' Narumi belatedly realized as the half-dragon looked to the bridge.

“Well, you are the Vice Chancellor, so I can guess you do not often wear clothes like that. They suit you well and they were an appropriate choice for a diplomatic meeting. This was merely an unfortunate location.”

“…Eh?”

''That must mean Kagetsuna made the right choice this time too,'' she thought.

But…

“Choose for yourself next time.”

“—————”

''He saw right through me,'' she thought. ''But how?'' she also thought with a slight disturbance in her heart.

“Um.”

The ambassador raised the hand still held in Narumi’s handshake. She must have wanted to let go, so Narumi frantically did so and bowed. When she apologized and took the girl’s hand again, the ambassador nodded.

“U-um, Urquiaga-kun…i-isn’t a b-bad person.”

“…Eh?”

“He does like…elder sisters…though.”

“That’s right,” said Narumi while glaring at the half-dragon.

…''Why did he even come to Date? Don’t tell me…

''Our Masamune is a girl. And according to the Testament descriptions, Masamune had a younger brother. In other words, Masamune is an elder sister.

''Don’t tell me,'' she thought again, so she decided to ask.

“Musashi 2nd Special Duty Officer, I would like to know why you came here to Date. Would you mind telling me?”

“You don’t know?” he asked with a sigh. “My goal is to…yes, complete the elder sister character’s arc in this game of diplomacy.”

Just as the half-dragon said that like it should be obvious, the Mogami fleet to their west lowered its defense spell. They had welcomed in their diplomatic ship just as Date had.

As Urquiaga and Suzu began their diplomacy with the Date clan, a discussion was taking place inside the diplomatic ship bound for the Mogami clan.

“Yoshiyasu-san! Are you sure you don’t need to head out for the diplomatic meeting!?”

“Yes. At this point, it will only be a greeting. Plus, it’s the vassal’s job to deal with Mogami’s summarized demands.”

Yoshiyasu answered the maintenance worker’s question while wearing a Far Eastern summer uniform and resting a wrench on her shoulder.

She was not in her room aboard the diplomatic ship. She was in Righteousness’s hangar.

On the Musashi, the engine division chief and the others would make sure the god of war was held in place properly and that the surrounding equipment was functioning, but they had a lot less personnel here. The Mogami diplomatic ship had not asked to greet her, so she was spending her time on maintenance like usual. But…

“Yoshiyasu-san, what kind of land is Mogami?”

“Well,” said Yoshiyasu to gather the maintenance workers’ attention. She used her wrench as a cane, and faced the north wall that hid the Mogami fleet from view. “The Mogami clan is almost single-handedly managed by Mogami Yoshiaki, their Chancellor and Student Council President. They have no Vice President or Vice Chancellor and a Mouse named Shakenobe assists her by taking on the role of both Secretary and Treasurer. That might make it sound like a small-scale academy, but it isn’t. They rule the entire western half of Oushuu. That may be a frozen land, but it has high productivity thanks to the large-scale land cultivation, marine products, and forest resources.”

…''They also have the excellent sense and charismatic leadership of Yoshiaki.

“As Chancellor, Yoshiaki has expanded Mogami’s power by wiping out local clans and using clever tactics to pull off sneak attacks or to incite infighting among those clans. She has a cruel character unique to Oushuu, but that strong will and powerful rule have-…”

“Have allowed her people to prosper, so they’re willing to follow her in this frozen land?”

“That’s right,” answered Yoshiyasu. “The more severe she is, the more people sense a survivor’s strength in her. …People are drawn to someone who shows they can make full use of their authority, military might, intelligence, and experience. She is a leader in the truest sense of the word.”

''That ability is something I lack at the moment,'' thought Yoshiyasu with a sigh.

“But, well…”

As everyone watched, she put her hands on her hips and looked up at Righteousness in its formal clothing.

“If you’ll move, I guess that means even I have the virtue of righteousness.”

…''I should probably assume that’s all I have for now.

That was when she heard a sound.

It was a distant sound and she nearly mistook it for the rumbling of the wind, but…

…''The Technohexen.

The two sounds came from the Musashi. It was the loud noise produced when Musashi’s Technohexen took off into the sky.

“I suppose it would be Musashi’s Technohexen that keep watch on the skies with those three nations so close.”

The blue sky did not exist low to the ground. At low altitudes, the sky was only a gathering of air that felt like a thick invisible wall of resistance.

Only the sticky weight of the air existed in that low region, but two lines accelerated up through it. Water vapor trailed behind the colors white and black.

The two Technohexen flew as if hopping up from the Ariake.

The black-haired, black-winged one in white moved out a bit ahead and shouted back to the gold-haired, gold-winged one in black. She looked back while using her pen on the crop mark frame Magie Figur drawn by her mouth.

“Margot! Has ‘Musashino’ contacted us yet!?”

“Judge, judge,” said Margot while holding a Magie Figur in front of her smiling face.

The speedometer-style Magie Figur displayed a large room and a maid automaton.

The maid with shoulder-length hair was “Musashino”. She bowed.

“Naruze-sama, I have sent you the basic data as an attachment. Suzu-sama created a 3D model of the surroundings, so please make corrections using that. Over.”

A Magie Figur opened to indicate the data had been sent over. Naruze was surprised at the quality of Suzu’s map of the surrounding terrain and considered using her as a background assistant for her next doujinshi.

“With the Musashi inside the Ariake, you still can’t get any external information, right? I’ll send back whatever we get, so will you check over it?”

“Judge,” Musashino Captain “Musashino” bowed while opening several sign frames.

'''Musashino:''' “Thank you very much. Because the Ariake is currently in stealth mode, the acquisition of external information beyond specific links is difficult. Over.”

“It’s fine. We all need to help each other out. …We’re up to the altitude the Musashi normally flies at. I’ll send the visual data back, so please analyze it.”

Weiss Fräulein’s rail wings opened from Naruze’s waist hard points using a special joint and she pointed them toward the surface to put Weiss Fräulein in a vertical orientation.

She came to a stop.

“Now, then.”

Naruze stretched her body out. She stretched out parallel to the ground with Weiss Fräulein standing vertically.

“A few of our Chancellor’s Officers and others with weapons left for those diplomatic visits, so we need to show the other nations we still have some people who can fight, right? Isn’t that why we were sent all the way up here to check on our surroundings?”

As Naruze bent back as if to rest her back on the earth below, Margot caught up.

“What’s wrong with that? Only England and a portion of Eastern Europe have official Technohexen forces. For the academies of this region in particular, we’ll probably be seen as a threat because we’re an unknown.”

Margot took the same pose, but behind Naruze rather than next to her.

The white and black girls were close enough to rest their heads on the other’s shoulder.

“Then let’s start gathering that data. ‘Musashino’, you analyze it, okay?”

Naruze moved her hand to draw several Magie Figur next to them. They finally became a ring surrounding the two ''schale besen''.

“That sets up the 360 degree optical vision spells to receive the image. …We’ll take the standard amount, ten times that, and thirty times that. I should store this under the spell name Burning Surroundings.”

A line of light ran along the ring of Magie Figur. That line drew out the surrounding scenery as seen from the ring. The original data was drawn by Suzu, but the art style changed to match Naruze’s Magie Figur.

…''Even Suzu’s readings get iffy at more than twenty kilometers out when she’s inside the Ariake in stealth mode.

That was still more than enough, but that put the diplomatic ships from the three nations on the very edge.

And of course…

“That’s why we were sent out.”

Once the dozens of Magie Figur forming the horizontal ring finished drawing out the scenery, they automatically gathered in Naruze’s hand. She gathered them in a neat stack, and…

“Margot.”

“Oh, yes, yes. Here.”

Margot opened a Magie Figur displaying the envelope icon for shared storage on Musashi’s divine network. Naruze stuck the stack of Magie Figur into that envelope icon.

The rest was simple. Margot tapped the envelope icon to close it.

“And that sends it to Musashino’s bridge. Maybe we should tell her.”

As soon as Margot hit the send button, a new Magie Figur opened. It displayed “Musashino” on the bridge. She held up an envelope icon next to her face.

“Thank you very much. Over.”

“I’m glad the divine transmission lines are so fast. …Oh.”

She noticed another new Magie Figur. Wondering what it was, she checked the sender field.

“Wild Kamelie?”

Naruze frowned as she drew their senior’s face in the Magie Figur.

“What is it, Wild Kamelie? What happened to Almirante? Attacked by a Technohexen again? So what does our non-student unmarried old hag of a second-in-command want? If it’s about being Edel Brocken’s tester, we won’t give you back that position even if you get down on the ground and beg. Normal prostrations aren’t enough to move us anymore. …They’re losing their effect.”

“If you want to be on the receiving end of my high high altitude cannon spell named Blooming Flower Beam, you can always just say so. …And little girl, I assume you know just why I’m speaking with you.”

“Judge. I know. …You want to be in one of my doujinshi, don’t you? There’s a bit of a line, but I can squeeze you in somewhere.”

A shell flew up from below and passed by two meters on their right.

Naruze glared up at the shell as it vanished into the sky.

“You weren’t even trying to hit? You really suck at this. Not that it matters when we’ve got defense spells.”

“I was firing blind form inside the stealth barrier, you know? …Hm? What is it, Almirante? You want me to hurry up? But this is normal for us. And go to sleep!!”

“See, you got him mad at you. …But I more or less understand, Wild Kamelie. You’re from the east, right? So what’s your opinion as the former second-in-command of M.H.R.R.’s Anti-Russia Technohexen Brigade? Your primary enemy, Novgorod, has made peace with P.A. Oda and has betrayed Sviet Rus, but do you have some information on Sviet Rus related to that?”

“Judge. There’s a chance a parent is going to show up to this three-party meeting.”

“What?”

Naruze frowned and Margot tapped her on the shoulder.

She leaned back even further to look at the Magie Figur that Margot held up. The speedometer-style Magie Figur displayed an envelope icon. Naito touched it, which opened…

“The transparent image of our surroundings based on ‘Musashino’s’ analysis.”

The data they had sent had already been sent back after analysis by the automaton’s high speed decisions.

Naruze reopened it and viewed it.

…''Is there something here?

As if to answer her, several torii-style sign frames opened horizontally around her in the previous direction from before.

The translucent monitor portion displayed the results of the data analysis. Writing and icons had been added by the automaton to provide information on what she was looking at. But…

“The red light indicates the other nations’ fleets, right?”

Naruze knew why there was no emotion in Margot’s voice.

The three nations’ diplomatic ships were glowing red with Sviet Rus to the west, Mogami to the northwest, and Date to the north.

“But there’s also one coming from Edo in the south.”

The red dot of light was small but definitely approaching. And with numbers in the hundreds, not just the dozens.

“Hashiba’s ships are coming here!?”

And…

“Ga-chan! Incoming cannon fire!!”

Naruze saw the light of cannon fire, but it was not coming from the Hashiba fleet in the south.

The light flashed from the escort ships accompanying the diplomatic ships to the north, north-northwest, and northwest.

They were ultra-long range ether cannons and their light stretched toward…

“Ariake! Put up your defenses!!”

Naruze cried out just as light began exploding in a seemingly empty area of sky.

The Ariake had been hit.

And the attack had come from the Sviet Rus, Mogami, and Date fleets here for diplomacy.

Naruze could not figure out why they would do that, but she did know one thing. She opened a Magie Figur and shouted to the Ariake and the Musashi.

“We’re under attack! The enemy is Sviet Rus, Mogami, Date, and Hashiba!!”

She raised her eyebrows and looked sharply to the southern sky.

“Hashiba is approaching to monitor the other three nations and they’re inciting them to attack us!”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 33|Chapter 33]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 35|Chapter 35]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 33

2016-02-09T05:11:46Z

68.109.63.229: Small change

==Chapter 33: Habitual Lecturer in a Private Room==
[[Image:Horizon4B_0053.jpg|thumb]]
''Wow

''Talk about a pain in the butt

'''Point Allocation (Ignore)

“Hey.”

A voice filled a small wooden room.

The afternoon sunlight entered through a small window.

“Hey, come on out of there, idiot. I know you’re awake.”

Narimasa stood next to the bed that was attached to the wall just like the desk. He was frowning toward a motionless lump in the bed’s blanket.

“…”

He bared his teeth toward the silent humanoid blanket but looked back toward the entrance. Toshiie stood there in a red M.H.R.R. uniform and he smiled bitterly toward the bed.

“Michi, you don’t need to worry about what happened yesterday.”

“Yes, I do.”

“What the hell? So you’ll respond to Toshi?”

“I know you’d just lecture me, Sassa.”

“What? When have I ever lectured anyone? If you’d actually face reality, maybe you wouldn’t panic on the battlefield. Make sure you don’t make the same mistake again, idiot.”

“See!? You’ve already started lecturing me!!”

“Shut up.” Narimasa kicked the bed. “Now get up.”

“I’m not listening to a villain who broke the lock and came in without asking.”

“I did ask, idiot. I said, ‘I’m coming in, you idiot’, remember?”

“You came in without waiting for me to answer! You have to mentally prepare yourself for these things. If you understood that, maybe you wouldn’t always get tasked with charging into the enemy lines and getting hurt.”

“But doing that’s so much easier. I can charge in, punch some people, mess up their plans, and then fall back for a breather and some healing when everyone else catches up. Having someone telling you whether to move left or right or whatever is such a pain. Toshi can handle that stuff.”

“Yes, yes.” Toshiie smiled and nodded by the door. “I understand, Na-chan. I understand all too well that you’re known as the liberal arts type because you say so many illogical things. You normally can’t win when there’s only two or three of us and tens of thousands of them, so you can’t smile in delight when it happens, Na-chan. We won’t get a bonus if we don’t make it look like we’re struggling a little.”

“Hold on. So when you contradictorily shout ‘Wh-what!? Don’t tell me they took out my Iron Ghost Division!’ after only losing a thousand of your ghosts, you’re just trying to make the enemy look more powerful to earn yourself a bonus?”

“Yeah. It’s not easy coming up with so many ways to act surprised. Sometimes no one notices if I don’t strike a pose while I’m at it. I’ve been working hard recently by mixing in some jumping, but it pains me to see the divine network threads commenting ‘Toshiie just used his Art of Surprise!’ or ‘That’s the tornado style!’ ”

“So am I actually interfering when I try to be nice and charge in to support you?”

“Stay away! Stay away!” insisted Matsu.

“So you’re the greedy one!? You are, aren’t you!?”

“It isn’t greed, Na-chan. It’s marital love. The mercenaries use up a lot of money. ...Right?”

Narimasa looked away as the couple rubbed their cheeks together and he kicked the bed again.

“Fuwa, just get up already.”

“Only if you make me want to.”

“Damn her…” Narimasa frowned and kicked the bed again. “Get up, Fuwa. We have three jobs we need you to do.”

“Make it just one. Besides, haven’t you already finished negotiating with Novgorod?”

“Yes,” confirmed Toshiie. “We quickly settled on some boundaries we wouldn’t cross and they agreed not to interfere with our actions. We made a triple contract: nonaggression, noninterference, and noncooperation. …If they try to work with Uesugi during our invasion, we will use the authority of Testament Union to turn Novgorod into Nanao Castle.”

Nanao Castle had been mentioned the day before as well.

“According to the Testament descriptions, Nanao Castle belonged to the Noto Province’s Hatakeyama clan that was allied with Oda. When it was attacked by Uesugi Kenshin, the war hawks inside killed their ruler to continue their resistance, but the supposedly impregnable castle eventually fell to Uesugi due to further betrayal from within and the outbreak of a plague. …Almost everyone inside was wiped out.”

Meaning…

“Novgorod has already fallen victim to Ivan IV’s great purge and next it would fall victim to the Uesugi clan’s great purge. And through the recreation of a betrayal from within. …If that happens, I can only think that floating city would literally fall.”

“But,” said the blanket. “Doesn’t Nanao Castle lead into the Battle of Tedorigawa?”

The blanket rolled to face away from the wall, but the contents remained hidden inside. However, an ''insha kotob'' appeared outside the blanket and displayed a list of dates.

“In the Testament descriptions, the Siege of Nanao Castle happens first, but Shibata Katsuie’s army was already moving in to reclaim the castle and crossed the Tedori River without realizing Nanao Castle had already fallen. Katsuie’s forces began to retreat when they found the castle had fallen to Kenshin,” said the blanket. “But we’ll be badly beaten and forced to run back home.”

“Stop mixing reality with the Testament descriptions. We can use some kind of interpretation there. Besides, we can make Nanao Castle and Tedorigawa different battlefields.”

“That’s right,” said Toshiie. “But as the ‘Testament Union’, we need to confirm that Novgorod really does become Nanao Castle.”

“Can’t Hashiba go?”

“Unfortunately, Hashiba planned to join the Battle of Tedorigawa but left after having trouble getting along with Shibata’s forces.”

And…

“If we do go there and the Uesugi clan requests to ‘duel’ Shibata and the rest of us, then that will trigger Tedorigawa.”

“Then what do we do?”

“You already know, don’t you?”

“Keh,” spat out Narimasa. “We just have to kick Uesugi’s ass, right? We’ve got the Testament Union on our side, so it doesn’t matter who wins Tedorigawa.”

“That’s why I’m here too, Na-chan.”

“And her too?” asked Narimasa as he kicked the bed.

The blanket let out a shriek as it and the bed bounced up into the air.

“But if we invade as a counterattack after Tedorigawa, that’ll cause our master’s assassination, won’t it?” asked Narimasa. “Are you thinking of going that far if it comes to it?”

“There are reasons why it’s better that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“After Tedorigawa, we will invade Uesugi,” said Toshiie. “But while we are attacking Uesugi’s Uozu Castle, our master is killed by Akechi at Honnouji. Our battle with Uesugi grows more extended and we are unable to rush over to help.”

“Then…”

“You’re thinking we should avoid causing Tedorigawa, aren’t you? But Hashiba controls the Testament Union and that means we actually have to keep the history recreation moving. After all, we’re the Testament Union now. That’s why we need to be prepared for a rapid response just in case. At the very least, we need to be able to begin our invasion of Uesugi immediately after finishing Tedorigawa. And to do that…”

Toshiie placed a hand on his chin and gave solemn nod.

“I’d like to get a nice attack in on Novgorod. If we can crush Uesugi all at once at Tedorigawa, we’ll have a much easier time invading them and controlling the Siege of Uozu Castle will be a lot simpler.”

“I’m always amazed by that personality of yours. I couldn’t do something like that.”

“That’s because you’re the field work type, Sassa. …But Maeda, isn’t there another way of using Novgorod?”

“Testament.” Toshiie nodded, opened a ''lernen figur'', and displayed a map from Hokuriku to Kinki. “Novgorod is near the northern coast. When Musashi tries to return to Europe through Sviet Rus, they are certain to pass through there. We could always conquer Novgorod and use it to intercept them.”

“That’s a decent decision, but it gives me more work either way…”

“So much to do,” said Matsu.

“That’s right.” Toshiie smiled bitterly. “Hmm… Then I think I’ll take one of the three jobs meant for you, Michi. Namely, attending the fried food party Lady Oichi is holding to apologize for last night. …I’m looking forward to the Kisu Tempura meant as a good luck charm for when we eventually face Matsudaira.”

“You guys don’t play fair!”

Fuwa poked her head out from the blanket, but she quickly covered her glasses-less face again.

“I just got up, so don’t look at me.”

“Hey, Toshi, do something about this conceited moron. I don’t want to.”

“Ha ha ha. I don’t want to either, Na-chan, so we’re even.”

“Fine, then.”

Sassa sat on the bed. He crossed his arms, ignored Fuwa’s attempts to dodge, and sighed.

“Listen, Fuwa.”

“Wh-what?”

“Hashiba’s sending something here. You should know more about it than anyone, so you need to inspect it.”

“Eh? What is it?”

“I don’t have the authority to say, so go see Shibata. Oh, but wait a while first. That idiot’s wearing an apron while he helps Lady Oichi in the kitchen, so he couldn’t be creepier. In the meantime…”

He lightly slapped Fuwa’s head a few times.

“Do some calculations. You should get more accurate results than Toshi who only just arrived from Europe.”

“About what?”

“You’ve heard that Musashi’s decided to be a real pain in the ass by sending ambassadors to Date, Mogami, and Sviet Rus, right?”

Fuwa silently confirmed she knew, so Toshiie spoke up.

“Michi, I want you to calculate out a few patterns for future changes in Musashi’s battle strength. We also have requests from Takizawa and Niwa who’ve headed that way. This is the best place to get information on Sviet Rus, on Mogami who are opposing them, and on Date who have grown quiet.”

“Hmm…”

Fuwa got up which lifted Narimasa’s hand that sat on her head. He slapped her head once more before removing his hand.

“You gonna do it then?”

“Shaja.”

She fixed the collar of the large P.A. Oda track suit she wore in place of pajamas and she roughly combed her mussed-up hair with her hands.

“You made me want to.”

“Oh, so you get fired up when there’s work to be done?”

“…”

Fuwa glared at Narimasa and slapped his head. She ignored his complaint and got out of bed, but then he saw her from behind.

“You aren’t wearing the bottom? Don’t tell me…”

“Don’t look. And it isn’t because they’re drying after last night. I have plenty of other clothes, see?”

She opened the closet in the corner of the room to reveal her collection of different nations’ uniforms. She reached for a Far Eastern one as she spoke.

“I’m interested in what Shibata wants, so I’ll do the one about Musashi’s battle strength first. Will it be enough to do it as individuals, in cooperation, through alliances, and a mixture of the above?”

“Shaja. But Michi, do you like other nations’ uniforms that much?”

“Well, I think I just like the variation. I’m skinny, so our uniform has a surprisingly large gap below the chest. I personally like how the Hexagone Française and Qing-Takeda ones fit. I won’t be leaving the ship today, so which one should I go for? …Any suggestions?”

“Quit wasting time on pointless crap and get to work.”

“Shaja, shaja,” she said as she pulled out some clothes.

She checked in the mirror while holding the uniforms in front of her.

“Then I think I’ll start with the Musashi job. I guess the calculations about their relationship with Date will come first.”

In which case…

“I doubt it’s going to be easy for Musashi, so maybe I should include that when I’m thinking about all this.”

The red room had red carpet, red fabric on the walls, and a red ceiling.

The large room was illuminated by lights embedded in the ceiling and walls. The bed attached to the wall was white, the desk was a dark wooden color, and a girl stood in the center of the room.

“Are these my options?”

She had long black hair, white skin, a green inner suit, and metal limbs painted red.

She was Date Narumi.

Colors were spread out before her eyes. The formal outfits in the room’s closet had been lined up on the red floor.

“Even if welcoming the ambassador is a diplomatic role, do I really have to wear something like this?”

She sighed, crossed her arms, and looked to the clothing lined up on the thick carpet. Even if they were dress clothes…

“Our nation is cold, so what are we trying to prove by leaving the chest open like that?”

She had chosen them herself, so complaining was not going to help.

Her aides had chosen some and she had been given some others, but she had left them in the living room because she did not think they suited her.

…''I’m not a diplomat in the first place.

So why did she need something like this now?

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Narumi-kun, you always buy clothes or makeup when you’re feeling stressed or in a good mood! It’s a bad habit or, to put it another way, a nice vice, so how about giving some of that money to the poor who are suffering every single day, by which I mean me!? How about it!? Just 120 yen is enough! Okay, nearly convinced her this time! Oh, and I was wondering why you would buy so many clothes you never wear, but isn’t this the perfect chance to wear them all at once!? You could say you’re wearing layers because it’s cold! You could say it’s a fat suit! C’mon, do it!”

'''Unturning:''' “That isn’t funny, so tone it down a little.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Okay… How should I put it…? Um, are you mad…?”

'''Unturning:''' “I always have to wonder how you can switch back and forth like that.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Yeah… It’s probably a stimulation of the brain.”

'''Unturning:''' “So what do you want?”

Katakura took a moment to respond.

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Isn’t the red one fine?”

“In what way?” she asked with a frown, but she did not type it into the sign frame. That guy would trip you up in almost everything, but he never missed when it truly mattered.

But…

'''Unturning:''' “No, I’ll choose for myself.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Are you curious?”

“Of course not,” she said without typing it in.

'''Unturning:''' “I would never wear something like this, so I want to choose for myself. That’s all.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “But…”

There was a pause before the rest of Katakura’s words arrived.

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “That means you think this is important.”

'''Unturning:''' “If you keep interpreting things the way you want, I’ll tell Rusu-san.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “D-don’t do that, Narumi-kun! You always do this! You always rely on others instead of attacking me yourself! Doesn’t it hurt your heart that Rusu-san has been getting careless while scolding me lately!? Oh, poor Rusu-san! Do you ''want'' to see me moaning in pain as he scolds me!? Do you!? You do, don’t you? Well, if you insist, I’ll get everything set up to record it and then head on over to Rusu-san’s place! Don’t you regret it when you see me going all out! Goodbye.”

'''Unturning:''' “I have a feeling you would fit in at Musashi. And I’ll tell Rusu-san to prepare a water-filled cell for you.”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “You’re inciting me to rebel and then punishing me!? How convenient!”

“Enough of that,” she said while looking out the southern window.

There were shadows in the sky. They were a flat diplomatic ship and the transport ship accompanying it from Musashi. They would arrive in a few more minutes and a Date ship would tow them.

'''Unturning:''' “How are things on the other side?”

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' “Well! According to the scouts, they’ve sent out someone to monitor the situation! And a troublesome someone for us! If Masamune-kun reacts, we’ll do something about it, so you do things your way there!”

'''Unturning:''' “Testament. In that case, I think I’ll go with the red one.”

She went with Katakura’s suggestion. After all…

'''Unturning:''' “There’s no point in dressing up.”

For one thing, she had no one to dress up for.

…''That’s right.

All four of her limbs were prosthetics and the Vice Chancellor was expected to fight. No one had ever been able to keep up with her. Some had treated her nicely, but due to the issues with her body and personality, she ended up doubting their true motives.

“Not only am I the Vice Chancellor, but there’s also that old failure of mine.”

Once this job was over, she wanted to get something to drink. She wanted to drink down a full cup of junmai sake.

But escaping from reality with those thoughts was not going to change who she was. With that in mind, she looked back to the chat sign frame.

'''Kagetsuna-kun:''' You really are a girl, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean by that?” she said while looking out the window.

She did not matter. The Vice Chancellor was the academy’s military representative and nothing more than that, so she needed to focus on Date’s future path.

“We’re all about to start dealing with the troublesome history surrounding Oushuu, Sviet Rus, and even Kantou.”

Narumi stared out the window as she spoke.

“First of all, we need to sacrifice Musashi.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 32|Chapter 32]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4B Chapter 34|Chapter 34]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 35

2016-02-06T07:36:51Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 35: Traveling Adulteress */

==Chapter 35: Traveling Adulteress==
[[Image:Horizon3B_0187.jpg|thumb]]
''Now, it’s time for some fun

''What would you like to do?

''Eat dinner? Take a bath? Or…

'''Point Allocation (Beast)

The house was made of sweets. The floor panels and walls were thick wafers, the roof was sugar candy and chocolate, the windows were sugar sculptures, and the pillars were thick pretzels.

However, the furnishings in the rooms were not made of sweets. The chairs were nothing more than bent wood with the surface hollowed out and the table was carved from a giant log.

The dishes, the soups inside them, and the other food were not sweets either.

“Heh heh. I take it from the look on your face that you didn’t think the Reine des Garous could cook, Musashi Chancellor.”

The Musashi Chancellor shook his head in his chair while looking at all the meat-focused food in front of him.

“No, I was just surprised by how extravagant it all is. …In fact, did you make this candy house too? I saw something similar when I came to Hexagone Française a long time ago.”

“No,” said the Reine des Garous who had removed her coat and put on an apron. “My mother had a Technohexen build this place long ago. Only lost children can remove its components and it repairs itself. …I’ve heard a few others were made for the history recreation of some old story.”

“Hmm. So it’s a place for lost children, is it? …So was I lost?”

“That’s a good question.” The Reine des Garous gave a bitter smile and looked curiously across the room. “Children like that used to show up from time to time, but I have almost abandoned the place ever since getting married. The cleaning is handled by Technomagie, but stocking up on ingredients isn’t easy. …The house you found yourself at was probably better maintained than this one.”

“Judge. …So I take it even Loup-Garous eat more than just people.”

''Now, how am I supposed to explain this?'' thought the Reine des Garous.

…''It is true the man-eating side of Loup-Garous gets a lot of focus.

They used that image to get along with others and preserve their position as beasts, but there were certain people a Loup-Garou would always spare.

“We do not eat children. Ogres specifically target children because they like the soft meat, but they eat people solely for the food. We eat people as a part of the ritual battle known as hunting, so we do not attack children who cannot run or fight very well.”

“You don’t like children?”

“I never said that.” She smiled. “Unlike deer, sheep, or goats, human children will cry instead of run. They’re very cute. …If they would run with all their strength, we would have the right to use all our strength to hunt them down, but when they simply cry, we only have an obligation to rescue them. Of course, if they come to hunt us down or win us over after they grow up, all of that changes.”

“You’re a true knight…no, a true royal, Nate Maman.”

She only allowed herself a small smile at that. She turned her focus back to the food and used her mitten-covered hand to pull a beast’s leg bone out of a pot on the stove.

She placed the hunk of meat attached to the bone on a giant bread plate.

“I can’t say anything about being a knight, but to many tribes in ancient Europe, the wolf was viewed as a god of hunting or war. After all, wolves have a strict pecking order and they value their pack. Also, they avoid unnecessary hunting and protect their territory. …The Far Eastern wolf is much the same. You know what they say wolves do to people, right?”

“Gulp.”

“No, not like that. When a person enters a wolf’s territory, it will not immediately attack. In order to drive them out, it will watch and see whether the person will leave or not. Once the wolf knows the person is not travelling deep into its territory, it will leave. If the person does head that way, then it will attack. …That is why there are so many stories of children lost in the mountains being sent back to their village by a wolf.”

“I see.”

The Musashi Chancellor brought a hand to his neck. There was a collar there.

That was what a wolf attached to its prey.

He grabbed the loop of leather wrapped around his neck.

“Am I your prey? Or am I a child?”

“How would you like your meat cooked? Medium well?”

“Whoa, whoa! We’re getting ahead of ourselves here!! And raw! I think raw is best!”

Toori brought his hand back to the collar.

“Anyway, can you remove this thing? I won’t run away. And I’m sure you’d just catch me again if I tried.”

“No. After all, we don’t trust each other enough yet.”

“Eh? But I trust you.”

“Then…”

She pulled a leg of venison from behind a pile of plates and placed it on a metal plate on the table. It was sprinkled with herbs and ready to be put in the oven.

…''Now, then.

She bent her upper body down lower than her butt, rested her chest on the table, and lightly poked at the meat with her claws. From there, she looked up at the Musashi Chancellor and tilted her head.

“How would you like this cooked? That’s what I was asking about before.”

The Reine des Garous saw the Musashi Chancellor look up at the ceiling in thought.

…''How about it?

Loup-Garous were man-eaters, but she was not going to eat him right away. The proper method was to hunt down her prey, feed them to remove any odor from their meat, and then have them obey rather than be forced.

…''We only eat them once they actually want to be a part of us.

This was different from all the young men she had lured in and eaten for fun with her fellow Loup-Garous long ago.

This was Musashi’s chancellor and student council president.

She felt he was worth eating properly.

After all, her daughter Nate relied on him. If he personally asked to become a part of her, Nate would have no choice but to give up.

“I am not going to eat you that soon. So…”

If the prey feared her, it was easy for them to be pressured into submission.

She wanted to avoid that.

He had to happily desire to be eaten from the bottom of his heart. Loup-Garous were a race associated with the moon who toyed with the instincts of man, so her pride as their queen would allow nothing less. For that reason, she lowered the ends of her eyebrows and spoke.

“It disappoints me that you would think I wanted to eat you right away.”

She then repeated her question while poking at the uncooked meat so it swayed toward him.

“How would you like this cooked?”

He bent back even further in thought, but after a while…

“…”

All of a sudden, he faced forward and looked right back at her with his eyebrows slightly raised.

''Oh, how cute,'' she thought as he met her gaze.

“Raw! I said raw is best, didn’t I!? I mean it!! I want it raw!!”

“Y-you sure are stubborn. You thought I was talking about you when you said that!”

“Honestly, did you really think you could talk your way out of it like that!?”

When the Reine des Garous straightened up and raised her eyebrows, Musashi’s chancellor averted his gaze.

He faced the door and pouted his lips.

“Don’t know whaaaat you’re talking about.”

He then began whistling to feign innocence. As soon as he did, a snake appeared in a corner of the room.

“Nwoooh! Is this a house of old sayings or something!? Wh-where’s a worm!? I’m gonna get so swollen!”<ref>A Japanese superstition says peeing on a worm will make your penis swell.</ref>

“Oh, the Technohexen that built this place added in a lot of tricks, so it probably really will swell up if you do it. She couldn’t control the weather, so frogs should be fine though.”

She partially hid behind the meat and glared at him.

“But for humans, eating wild animals raw is a good way of getting parasites.”

…''Raw meat is a tough thing for humans.

However, she saw the idiot turn toward her and twist his eyebrows.

“What? I’m the kinda guy who keeps his word!!”

“You really are stupid. All you have to do is apologize.”

“What? I haven’t done anything to apologize for.”

He pointed at her with a gently bent hand.

“You asked me how I wanted the meat cooked and I said raw! There’s nothing wrong about that, is there?”

“Then what does that say about me when I pulled the meat out and asked again?”

Well?

“That makes my later question proof of my distrust of you.”

“What? That’s just…um… You were making sure because you want me to grow up big and strong, right? Listen, Nate Maman. Don’t say bad things about yourself.”

She just about complained that he had started it, but she reconsidered.

…''This will never end if I do that.

One or the other of them had to back down and she was older.

…''I’m an adult, but he dragged me into this childish fight.

A quiet laugh escaped her lips and that laugh calmed her heart.

She leaned forward again while gently shaking her hips left and right. She once more looked up at him from below.

“Do you like women who immerse themselves in insulting themselves?”

“That kind of woman sounds like a lot of trouble.”

“Oh? Then you must be the type who can’t leave that kind of woman alone.”

That was what it meant for him to continue answering her. He must have known what that meant because he let out a small groan that could be taken as understanding or stalling for time to think.

“Ah, well, you see? About that…”

He thought some more and spoke the words as they came to him.

“It’s a waste to destroy yourself like that.”

“True. And you want to tell those women that they could shine if they didn’t do that, right?”

He was saying they were a lot of trouble because he felt he had to say that to them.

“Heh heh.”

She laughed quietly, reached out a hand, and touched his cheek.

“Will you tell me that I would shine even more if I wasn’t so troublesome?”

After all…

“I am a lot of trouble.”

“Yeah, I was really starting to notice that,” he said. “But still, I’ll take it raw.”

“Are you still insisting on that?”

“I’m not backing down on that decision. Slice it thin and serve it with soy sauce and wasabi.”

“It will have to be horseradish instead of wasabi. …You can really get hooked on that stuff, even if I only use a little bit. I’ll go get some from the spring out back.”

“This house of sweets sure is perfect for a carnivore’s diet.”

It had been used by two generations of Reine des Garous, so it was perfectly set up for them.

Meanwhile, he looked to the meat.

“It’s a real shame, though. Wild game is best when it’s been sitting around for about a week, right? Eat it right away and not all the blood will have drained.”

“Yes. It will smell and taste bitter right now.”

She thought for a while and tried to find a method of preparing it that they would both accept.

“How about I make it into roast beef? The meat will be room temperature, so that is the best way to retain the flavor of eating it raw. While I prepare it, we can talk and deepen our trust over the soup and hors d’oeuvres.”

“That’s fine, but isn’t roast beef an English way of cooking?”

“Oh, my.” She looked up. “You certainly know a lot about cooking.”

She almost asked if he had learned it from Nate, but being compared to another girl was annoying even if it was her daughter.

“That’s because my mom’s a cook.”

''Does that not count?'' she wondered. All of a sudden, she found this thought process reminding her of the past.

Long ago, she had had a similar thought in this same place.

…''That’s right. I heard someone talk about another woman and felt a little jealous.

She began to immerse herself in the memory, but she closed that mental lid to the past by straightening up. She had to take good care of that memory, so she instead nodded toward the boy in front of her.

“Now, how about I start cooking. After that, you can go take a bath.”

“I’m feeling more and more like you’re preparing me to be eaten.”

“You clearly don’t trust me yet, but that isn’t surprising since we only just met.”

She smiled and had a sudden thought.

…''And yet I know a lot about this boy.

She had done a fair bit of research on him after the incident at Mikawa. After all, the divine ''courrier'' and letters her daughter sent her often mentioned him as a troubling existence.

What kind of letters would her daughter send once she ate the boy?

Mitotsudaira panted in the darkness.

She was currently travelling south through the dark forest in pursuit of her mother. The pain reduction left her head a little hazy, so she tried to focus and clear her mind.

…''What is my king doing right now?

That was all that ever came to mind.

It was a negative thought. Worrying was important, but letting it take over only led to depression and panic.

She tried to avoid those thoughts.

…''But then I start thinking about how everyone else is worried about him.

It was likely true that they were all worried. Horizon, Kimi, Asama, and all the others had to be worried and she knew what had caused all that worry.

“I…”

…''I couldn’t protect my king.

She did think she was blaming herself too much here, but a part of her heart whispered that it was at least partially true. There was undoubtedly a part of her asking what had caused this situation and asking if she was looking away from the real reason.

“…”

She shook her head to physically drive away the negative thoughts.

“Are you okay, Mito-tsan? Are you thinking about something?”

Naito pulled on her hand from half a step ahead and turned toward her.

Mitotsudaira was more surprised by the squeezing strength reaching her than having a hand wrap around her own.

Her head had started to droop, so she looked up.

Tenzou was only a few meters up ahead and Mary was only a few meters behind.

She belatedly realized how close Naito was by her side.

…''They’re helping me because I’m so exhausted.

The occasional sounds of an aerial ship passing by overhead were incredibly irritating. The noise stabbed sharply into her slightly dimmed hearing and it almost felt like a chill.

“1st special duty officer, we need to hurry. That is all we can do right now.”

“You’re worried about the chancellor, aren’t you?” asked Naito.

…''Are you tempting me?

She was probably trying to be considerate, so Mitotsudaira only nodded and focused on walking in silence. Soon, Naito nodded twice.

“Yes, yes. He’s probably naked with a chain around his neck while she gives him food.”

…''Uuh…

After picturing the dreadful scene, Mitotsudaira mentally shook her head.

…''M-my mother would never do that!!

“And,” added Naito with a perfectly serious expression. “He’s probably barking, eating the food with his bare hands or only his mouth, and crying as he does everything your mom tells him to.”

Mitotsudaira pictured everything she had just heard.

“N-no, um, I don’t think even the chancellor would do that.”

“Ohhhhh! This is so good!! My taste buds are experiencing so many new flavors I think I’m crying! I’m gonna strip down naked! And can I have that meat too!? Can I!?”

“Oh, my. You don’t have to grab at it with your bare hands. And don’t drink the soup from the bowl with only your mouth. There’s a spoon right here. My mother took it from the English army as spoils of war.”

“Wow, this is an awesome spoon! Henry V transforms into his flying form! Amazing! I’m seriously ready to bark like a dog, put a chain around my neck, and become a part of your family!!”

“A-anyway, I think we can trust the chancellor.”

Mitotsudaira was assuring herself more than anyone, but Naito tilted her head.

“But that’s not an easy thing to do. Trusting him is fine and all, but it can be hard with the truly unbelievable things he does.”

She was disappointed how close she came to saying “judge”.

However, she felt that was going too far, so she raised her eyebrows slightly and argued back.

“H-has he done anything like that recently, though?”

“Topknot.”

That counterattack just about did her heart in.

“Uuh,” she groaned.

…''Th-that one is so fresh I completely forgot about it. B-but…

“H-he only did that because it was necessary! Right?”

“Please forgive my…topknot.”

…''H-huh? Am I turning into that boring sort of girl who lets jokes get to her too much!?

Naito laughed silently and patted her shoulder, but Mitotsudaira felt more relaxed than exhausted.

After deciding to continue viewing this positively, she saw some movement up ahead.

Tenzou crouched down and gestured toward them. Curious, she approached.

“We’re moving ahead at an excellent pace,” he said.

“Eh? R-really?”

“Judge.”

Naito let out an impressed tone, so it must have been fairly unexpected for her as well. Seeing that, Tenzou explained further.

“According to the general map, we should reach a small ridge if we continue up ahead. I was thinking about taking a break once we crossed it.”

“That’s pretty far away,” commented Mitotsudaira. “We’ll be moving pretty late at night.”

“Oh? Are you saying you can’t walk any further?”

Mitotsudaira knew Naito was provoking her, but she was thankful for it while so weak. She brought a hand to her chest as she replied.

“I can walk just fine! Let’s hurry and make our way as close to the chancellor as we can!”

“They have chosen a clever route and done well covering their tracks, but it is not enough to hide so many people.”

Mouri-01 spoke quietly in the darkness as she touched the ground.

She was inside a small pit in the forest. It was shallower on the southern side and grass covered the bottom.

They definitely stayed here.”

Mouri-03 asked a question as she looked to the south from a tree branch.

“How can you tell, big sister?”

“People’s weight and movements will bend the grass. Although it looks like they fixed even that after the fact.”

Mouri-01 touched the grass and the night dew beaded up on the fingertips of her glove.

“The dew has slightly lowered the fixed grass, so I was able to determine it was camouflaged. …Still, it was not easy tracking them this far.”

“But it looks like they stopped that camouflage from here on, doesn’t it?”

“It would appear they only truly started travelling as a group when leaving here. But…”

Mouri-01 asked a question of the surrounding ''Belle de Marionnettes'' and Mouri-03.

“Can you pick up their residual heat trail?”

The ''Belle de Marionnettes'' shook their heads and Mouri-03 sighed up above.

“It’s pretty weak. …Oh, I get it. They must have calculated out when the dew would fall. If they’d predicted how far we would get by then, they would only have to erase their tracks up to-…”

“This is a Hexagone Française forest and a harmonic territory forest. Even if we’re dealing with a ninja here, they would have been trained with a focus on the Far East, so they would not know how much European grass changes in the dew. They must have read as much they could from the air, predicted how far we would arrive before the dew fell, and erased their tracks up to that point. I have determined that was an excellent decision.”

“Big sister, this isn’t the time to be impressed. What are we going to do? Pursue them? If you can predict where they are, we could send in the ships flying around up above.”

“Disturbing the Reine des Garous’s territory would displease her, so let us pursue by foot. If they also predicted that the dew and low night temperatures would weaken their trail of residual heat, this is a dangerous enemy indeed. Did they use the Testament Union’s almanac to predict we would be sent out to guard Hexagone Française’s territory? We were able to use the residual heat to see through the camouflage using a deer at their landing point, but…”

Mouri-01 brought a hand to her chin and thought. After a while, she spoke again.

“Mouri-02, can you pick up their residual ether trail?”

Someone silently stood up from the grass. It was Mouri-02.

[[Image:Horizon3B_0205.jpg|thumb]]

She had been crouched down with her right hand on the ground, but she did not turn toward her elder sister. She simply held out her left hand and raised three fingers.

“There are three residual ether trails? Which ones were disguised?”

Mouri-02 shook her head.

“Testament,” replied Mouri-01. “If they are all disguised, then this really must be their 1st special duty officer. That ninja.”

“He must have used deer again. By the way, can you not remember that ninja’s name, big sister?”

They all exchanged a glance via their shared memory and spent three seconds thinking, which was a long time for ''Belle de Marionnettes''. When they were unable to find the answer, Mouri-01 clapped twice.

“Testament. That is enough wasting our thoughts on that. The middle route is probably the correct one, but we will have to check them all. Split into three teams and report back once you find a heat signature. We will pursue after regrouping.”

She paused.

“Now, then. If you want the center route, please raise your hand.”

'''Scarred:''' “Um, Master Tenzou? Excalibur has returned.”

Tenzou nodded at Mary’s divine chat message, opened a small keyboard, and replied.

'''10ZO:''' “Thank you. I keep relying on you here, don’t I? It’s fortunate the deer are willing to help us.”

'''Scarred:''' “This may be Hexagone Française land, but the animals do not follow human rules. They were willing to help on the condition that we do not disturb their land. And…”

After reading Mary’s message and hearing a ship in the sky, Tenzou asked a question.

'''10ZO:''' “What is it?”

'''Scarred:''' “The deer are overly conscious of Lady Mitotsudaira’s presence. They seem to know she is the Reine des Garous’s daughter from her scent or her aura. So, um…”

'''Scarred:''' “Was I…threatening the deer with Lady Mitotsudaira’s presence?”

He knew what she was trying to say, but he glanced toward Mitotsudaira who walked between him and Mary.

…''We cannot let her see this conversation.

He tilted his sign frame horizontally so it could not be seen from behind.

'''10ZO:''' “What did you say to the deer about Mitotsudaira-dono?”

'''Scarred:''' “Judge. I didn’t want to scare them, so I told them this: ‘Lady Mitotsudaira eats more than just meat, so don’t worry. She also eats lamb as a vegetable.’ Once they heard that, they immediately agreed to help us.”

''That’s definitely a threat,'' he thought, but he decided that was fine since it all worked out.

'''Scarred:''' “How is our pace?”

'''10ZO:''' “Slower than I would like. …Oh, but keep that between us.”

'''Scarred:''' “Judge. It can be our secret. I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

That made him somewhat happy, but he was not quite sure if that was a good thing or not.

At any rate…

'''10ZO:''' “Naito-dono is feeling a little tired too, but I think Mitotsudaira-dono is at her limit. She’s stumbling more and more recently. Once we reach the rest area up ahead, we can do what I mentioned earlier. I will explain it to Naito-dono.”

'''Scarred:''' “Judge. …Um, Master Tenzou?”

'''10ZO:''' “What is it?”

'''Scarred:''' “Even if we end up fighting up ahead, we’ll always be together once it’s over, right?”

“Judge,” he sent back while thinking.

…''I hope they won’t ask for these logs as part of my report when we get back.

''Submitting them would only be a bad thing for me,'' he thought as he lightly waved a hand toward and nodded at the two behind him.

“We’re keeping up a good pace. We’re about to reach the ridge, but we don’t have far to go now. The rest area is just past there. …Can you keep going until then?”

Tenzou looked up into the eastern sky. The trees were in the way, but he would have been able to see the Musashi if they were not there.

…''That last communication we just barely received said we would meet up in Magdeburg.

“They must be dealing with their own trouble there.”

A certain room was filled with furniture and decorations. It had windows on the wall, carpet on the floor, and a table for eight in the center.

“This is our treasurer’s diplomacy room, so there is nothing to worry about. It is soundproofed and can survive an explosion. So what brings you here so late, Magdeburg Provisional Mayor Guericke?”

Between the door and table, Masazumi extended a hand toward a bearded young man with his hair cut right along his eyebrow line. He wore an M.H.R.R. uniform and he did not accept Masazumi’s handshake.

His arms hung casually by his side and they both had a machine attached as armor. The arm armor was formed from levers and a metal hemisphere.

Everyone gave him odd looks and wondered what they were, but he simply gave a nod in response. He looked across the walls and even the ceiling of the furnished room.

“This is a most convenient room. I’m thankful. There is a lot I would like to discuss privately.”

“What would you like to dis-…”

“I would like to hold a negotiation in a hurry, Musashi Vice President.”

Before Masazumi could ask anything, he spoke to her and the people behind her: Horizon, Asama, Shirojiro, and Heidi.

“Please destroy the Musashi.”

And…

“In exchange, we will give you a means of fighting P.A. Oda.”

Masazumi was at a complete loss for words, but someone did move. Horizon gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It would seem we have taken aboard a visitor from Neshinbara-sama’s world.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Masazumi as her expression grew panicked, but Guericke’s eyebrows moved slightly.

“Oh? That is the name of one of our city’s best customers. In that case, I am pleased to meet you. …The city of Magdeburg is the printing center of M.H.R.R.’s Protestants,” he said. “So I hope we can have a good negotiation. I hope it will be beneficial for both us and Musashi.”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 34|Chapter 34]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 3B Chapter 36|Chapter 36]]
}}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 42

2016-01-31T19:16:12Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 42: Their Respective Conclusions */

==Chapter 42: Their Respective Conclusions==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0553.png|thumb]]
''The two of us are close

''And that is exactly why we are so distant

People remained in the Kinugasa Library even after night fell.

A lot of the school’s students lived in the dorms and the year-end festival had a lot of late-night stands and events because no one had to worry about tests or classes. And with the chill of winter outside, people naturally filled the library which doubled as a large rest area.

Currently, Shinjou sat across from one of those guests.

“Why are you here, Ryouko-san?”

Ryouko’s outfit consisted of a leather jacket over her kimono.

“Hm? We run a stand here every year. All of the shops in the area do. We sponsor the festival, you know? I think Kouji’s running a yakisoba stand today. He said something about it being superb since he has someone from the dish’s homeland working on it. How about we go mooch some off of him later, Setsu-chan?”

''What country is yakisoba from?'' wondered Shinjou, but she decided not to ask.

Ryouko looked around and smiled.

“But you know what? This is my first time at the school’s festival.”

“Really?”

“I think I had some issues holding me back.”

She waved a hand with a smile, rested her head on her hand, and continued looking around.

“I was really missing out.”

She looked deeper into the library where students from the weightlifting club were cosplaying as nudists and getting into a philosophical argument with the public morals committee over whether their state of undress counted as a costume or not.

“We only look nude because you’re looking with your eyes! Stop being so filthy and look at us with the eyes of your heart!!”

“You look just as naked to our hearts!!”

The public morals committee wielded stun guns and the muscular nudist cosplayers held barbell weights like cymbals. An excited crowd gathered around them and Ryouko gave a comment while watching from the side.

“Can’t they just hide their crotches behind those round weights? Right, Setsu-chan?”

“D-don’t ask me about that… And if they did, what do they do with the bars?”

Ryouko stared up at the ceiling and thought for about three seconds before a surprised look came over her.

“Wow, you’re so dirty, Setsu-chan!!”

“H-how!? I am not dirty!”

However, Ryouko bent back as if she could not endure that response.

“You! Pass!!”

She then slapped Shinjou on the shoulder.

…''She’s a lot like an old man.

Ryouko laughed, leaned back forward, and looked at Shinjou.

She then suddenly looked down at the desk in front of Shinjou.

Shinjou had placed a laptop and something else there.

“Setsu-chan, what’s that pile of paper?”

“Hm?”

Shinjou looked down at the paper that was still warm from when she had printed it off.

The stack was over ten centimeters thick and had the same full softness as fresh-baked bread. Each page had about twenty lines of text on the left and right sides.

It was a novel.

It was the novel she had written and just now finished.

When she realized Ryouko had noticed it and remembered what she had accomplished, she could not keep her cheeks from relaxing.

“Well… I made one.”

“A baby!?”

“You would fit in pretty well at this school, you know!?”

“Really!? Then I think I’ll enroll! I’ll be your and the young master’s underclassman starting next year, okay?”

Their raised voices drew the attention of the surrounding people and the nudist cosplayers.

A naked third year placed his weight-holding hands on his hips and frowned their way.

“Now, now, you two. You need to stay quiet in the library.”

“But…you can be naked?”

“What does nudity have to do with being quiet?”

“Understood,” weakly replied Shinjou as she and Ryouko bowed.

After about seven seconds, Ryouko leaned her way and looked at the novel.

“That’s the first time I’ve been scolded by a naked person. Now, let’s get back on topic. …So it’s a novel?”

“Yes.”

Hearing that, Ryouko’s eyes opened wide and she straightened up.

“Wow. You wrote all this?”

“I-is it that much? I knew what I wanted to write and, when I let it all out, it ended up like this…”

Ryouko nodded and gave an impressed cry.

“So you had a whole bunch building up inside you and you worked hard to get it all out of you?”

“D-don’t say things people will take the wrong way, Ryouko-san.”

However, Shinjou could sense what Ryouko meant.

The woman was surprised and was praising her.

Ryouko of course did not know ''what'' Shinjou had written.

And Shinjou had no intention of getting it published. It was just a personal hobby.

However, Ryouko had commented on the mere fact that she had written a novel.

''I see,'' she thought.

…''I’m being praised for something I did myself.

She did not know what that meant, but it briefly reminded her of the previous night.

They had done something for the world and that would link them all together.

And just now she had made Ryouko think something about her.

“…Is that how it works?”

She nodded and woke from her thoughts to see Ryouko give an impressed sigh and look back and forth.

“Is the young master at work?”

“Yes. I don’t think he’ll be back until late at night today.”

“I see,” said Ryouko. “Want to go get some yakisoba from Kouji?”

Shinjou started to wonder if she should, but Ryouko said something more.

“Shi-chan’s helping him right now, so should I call for her?’

“Shino-san is?”

It surprised her to know that girl was at the festival.

And she also knew Sayama was inside a concept space set up within the school.

He had chosen the location of his beginning for the final showdown.

Shinjou did not know who his opponent would be, but it would definitely be someone Shino knew.

…''It might be bad if she notices.

So Shinjou shook a hand side to side.

“Um, no, thanks. Yeah, you don’t have to buy me any yakisoba.”

“Really?”

Ryouko’s doubtful tone meant she did not believe Shinjou, so Shinjou panicked a little and stood up.

“Oh, but maybe I should go take a look. Then I can decide if I’m in the mood.”

“So I’ll be waiting here?”

Ryouko shrugged and looked to the laptop and pile of paper.

“Can I read it?”

“Sorry, but I already know who I want to read it first.”

“It’s the young master, isn’t it?”

She asked with a smile and Shinjou smiled back and nodded.

“I’ll be right back,” she said while rushing toward the library exit.

As she did, she wondered what Sayama and the others were doing at the moment.

A dividing line between light and darkness existed on the edge of the festival.

The light was filled with enjoyment while the darkness supported that light from outside.

That borderline between light and darkness was made up of festival stands surrounding the dancing ground.

One stand on the southwest end of the large schoolyard was selling yakisoba. Its sign said “Festival Stand Detective – Yakisoban” as well as “Agedama Blade”.

The stand was run by a foreigner who spoke a mysterious Swahili-like language, someone in a red and yellow Festival Stand Detective costume with lots of lit decorations, a young man easily speaking with them in Japanese, and a girl sitting in a seat next to them and chopping vegetables.

The detective costume must have been hot inside because he would occasionally crouch down and stop moving, but it did not affect the stand.

The transistor radio hanging from the top of the stand informed them it was now half past six.

After handing a customer their change, the young man looked to the girl.

He pulled a few coins from the bamboo basket he kept the change in and held them out toward the girl.

She turned around and was noticeably surprised to see the coins. She tried to refuse a few times, but the young man pointed at himself, the foreigner mixing soba with amazing skill, and the detective directly cooling himself by shoving his head in a bucket of water. He then held out the coins again.

The girl still hesitated, but she did take the coins.

She held them tightly as something precious and a gentle smile came to her lips.

She then grabbed the crutch leaning against the chair and began to walk.

She bowed toward the men in the stand, placed her jacket over her shoulders, and opened the canopy placed over the side of the stand.

Supported by the crutch, she seemed to move away from the darkness behind her.

She walked into the light and all the people there.

The school was empty.

Only the reserve lights and the outside lights were on, so the schoolyard was poorly lit.

However, a few forms were visible on the athletic grounds in front of the school building.

One was a boy in a suit.

The other was a girl in an armored uniform.

And the others…

“The Concept Cores have gathered here.”

The boy turned toward the transport pallets and the swords stabbed into the schoolyard.

“Are you all here to see the conclusion?”

As if to agree with the girl, the Concept Cores all glowed faintly. It was a pale light, much like moonlight.

“My side has 7th-Gear’s Dragon Balls and 9th-Gear’s B-Sp,” said the boy. “And you…”

He looked at the forms that resembled differently sized towers.

“3rd-Gear’s Keravnos and 5th-Gear’s Vesper Cannon, hm?”

“You cannot judge them based on their size. And the other four Concept Cores are surrounding the two of us. …This must mean there were two draws, one victory, and one defeat. In other words, the world is still in equilibrium.”

The boy looked to the sword standing before him.

It was a wooden sword, but it had not been carved. It was a branch that had naturally taken that form.

“Mukiti chose this and resides within it, so that he could ‘be with Sayama’.”

“Then,” replied the girl with a long sword standing before her as well. “I will take Totsuka, 2nd-Gear’s Concept Core. I will use the power of my name…and carve life.”

She seemed to be asking for confirmation in the dim light, but the boy only nodded at first.

“I see,” he said before tilting his head. “Where is your dog?”

“He is not my dog and I did not want anyone to think I had help here, so I had him wait at the concept space’s boundary.”

“The students with nothing better to do will be unable to leave him alone. Those who live in the dorms are always starving for a pet.”

“They eat dogs?”

“You just said something amazing, you know?”

“Did I?” She smiled a bit and must have recalled the festival outside. “But anyway, this is a nice place.”

“It is,” agreed the boy.

The two of them then slowly breathed in and reached for the weapons in front of them.

“Sayama Mikoto, Low-Gear Representative and ruler of the world.”

“Toda Mikoku, Top-Gear Representative and someone who wants to live a simple life.”

After naming themselves, they prepared their weapons.

“En garde!!”

Shino walked through the festival with her crutch.

She was on the way back from buying four canned drink she held under her left arm below the jacket draped over her shoulders.

…''Kouji said I could buy something and eat it, but…

She had not known what would be best to buy, so she had instead had fun seeing as much as she could.

The schoolyard was large and there was a dance at the center. Their stand was to the southwest and the vending machines were near the school buildings to the north. She had intentionally chosen the longer counterclockwise route to the east, so it had taken her nearly half an hour.

After making her purchase, she had taken the shorter western route instead.

On the way, she had seen the general pattern of the stands.

There was yakisoba, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, water candy, chocolate bananas, candied apples, target practice, human target practice, die cutting, 3D figurine die cutting, string lottery, nude string lottery, fortunetelling, and “exciting” fortunetelling.

Shino had seen a lot of it on her way there, but it was all new enough to her that it still felt fresh.

In the distance, she heard a muffled moan followed by a ringing bell.

“We have a first prize winner in the nude string lottery! Oh, they’re passing out. They’re really passing out!”

''Someone was lucky,'' thought Shino with a deep nod.

A soccer goal had been moved almost to the edge of the schoolyard. It was shoved between two stands and it seemed really big to Shino.

Also…

“Why is there a surfboard here?”

A surfboard was stuck in the ground about sixty centimeters from the edge of the schoolyard. It almost looked like some kind of sign, but then she noticed a color there.

It was the color white. It was the color of a beast. Despite all the food stands surrounding it, the color intently faced the center of the festival.

“…Shiro?”

The large dog turned toward her.

Its black eyes looked at her and they both reacted.

Shiro gave a start, suddenly got up, and ran toward her.

Shino gasped and watched the dog approach without moving.

“Why are you here?”

Deep down, she knew the answer.

She had last seen Shiro on the night of the attack. The landslide had separated them.

And who had been with them then?

…''No.

She told herself to forget it, that this was not the time to approach that, and that she needed to think about something else.

“———”

The next thing she knew, Shiro had circled around to her left. Without looking at her face, he pressed his shoulder to her waist and tried to push. It was almost as if he was trying to move her away from the center of the festival.

That clued Shino in

“Is she…in the festival?”

Shiro did not answer. He simply tried to push her away from the festival.

And as Shino looked to the center of the dancing, she realized something.

…''No, she isn’t actually in the festival.

The person who she was still not willing to draw up from the depths her heart was not skillful enough to dance with these Low-Gear people.

She was someone who could not face Shino until she had settled everything.

She was someone who refused to face her even though she knew it was a necessary part of settling everything.

She was someone who refused to face her not ''despite'' the power she had, but ''because of'' that power.

She was someone who believed she would harm someone and something precious.

Shino knew she would not be here now if that person had faced her.

Shino knew she would also not be here if she had tried to face that person.

That person refused to face this world and thus could not dance with this world.

She refused to face them but desired to fight them.

She thought she only had to avoid harming what mattered most to her, so she fought without even looking at those precious things.

And so she would choose to fight somewhere where no one could see her.

…''A concept space.

Shiro knew where she was and what she was trying to do.

…''Is it a showdown between Low-Gear and Top-Gear?

Sayama and Shinjou had said they were searching the past in order to oppose Top-Gear.

That meant they were going to settle everything once and for all.

…''It can’t be…

Shino sensed a certain conclusion.

“Mikoku is fighting to end it all?”

She realized the cans had fallen from her left arm.

That hand was now holding the blue stone that hung from her neck.

That cracked stone had lost most of its power, but…

…''I can still enter a concept space one more time!

She started forward with her crutch, but Shiro held her back.

He seemed to be telling her not to go and not to stop the conclusion that so many people wanted.

“Shiro! Please…”

She raised her voice, tried to move her knee forward, was pushed back, and realized something was getting in her way.

A moment later, she threw away the crutch.

Strength filled her trembling left leg and she brushed the dog out of the way.

“Shiro…please. Mikoku might leave me!”

She took the blue stone from her neck and wrapped her left hand’s fingers around it.

She thrust it forward with her left palm as if pressing it into midair.

“Let me go! I need to…”

She released the thought she had tried to seal in the bottom of her heart.

“I need to stop the conclusion Mikoku has chosen!”

Shinjou saw a girl and a white dog near the gap between festival stands created by a soccer goal.

The dog was the one that had accompanied Mikoku.

“———!”

Shinjou reflexively broke into a run. An uncertain but bad feeling filled her chest.

She was about fifteen meters away, so it would not take her long to get there.

She assumed she would make it if she ran, but the girl was already moving.

Shinjou saw the girl raise her left hand toward the center of the festival with a tearful and desperate look on her face.

…''She threw away her crutch!

When she took a weak step and reached out toward the festival, Shinjou cried out.

“Wait! Someone…stop her!!”

But her voice did not reach anyone.

There was sound.

There was light.

A firework had been launched into the sky from the bonfire at the center of the festival.

It whistled up into the midwinter night sky and the explosion briefly filled the festival with blue light.

“———”

The girl had vanished.

Only the white dog remained, tail lowered and looking bored.

Shinjou gulped.

She let out a rough breath and pulled her cellphone from her pocket.

With eyebrows raised, she clenched and ground her teeth, using the sound to suppress her emotions.

“Sibyl-san! We need backup! Send everyone out!”

“!? …Wh-what do you mean? Don’t tell me it’s Ooshiro-sama again.”

“This might be worse than that…”

“Y-you mean the entire earth is about to be destroyed?”

“That’s not what I mean,” began Shinjou as she slowly chose her words. “Someone’s trying to get in the way of Sayama-kun’s conclusion.”

She thought about what she had seen and what it meant.

She wondered if it was what she had actually wanted to do.

“An intruder entered the concept space.”

“An intruder?”

“Yes,” confirmed Shinjou.

She chose not to say anything more, hung up, and looked to her left arm.

A black watch was strapped to her wrist.

Mikoku moved through the night.

The battlefield was a school.

The school was empty and it was nighttime.

But if one looked closely, faint shadows of people were visible.

A festival was underway beyond the concept space.

Mikoku did not overlook the presence of those people.

She ran across the schoolyard, attacked, threw a knife to put some distance between herself and her opponent, and dashed inside a school building.

Darkness covered everything, but human shadows moved through that darkness as well.

It was not difficult to imagine the sounds they made as they moved.

Two faint shadows stood in the hallway ahead of her, but what were they discussing?

…''They are peeking inside the classroom in front of them, aren’t they?

A shadow stood at the wall to the side of the stairs, presumably waiting for someone.

As Mikoku ran up the stairs, a shadow rushed down them and seemed to be riding a bicycle despite being indoors.

Everyone moved out of the bike’s way and a few raised their arms and seemed to be saying something.

Mikoku smiled bitterly because it felt like she was a part of their group.

She imagined she was participating in the festival.

She crossed blades with the person who either pursued her or was pursued by her and imagined participating in the festival as the blow shook her body.

No one noticed her.

No one turned toward her.

No one said anything to her.

''But,'' she thought. ''This is easier on me. After all, I don’t have to hurt anyone this way.

To avoid her enemy’s next attack, she made a feint toward a classroom.

They exchanged attacks as one pursued and one turned around.

She used her skill, judgment, and physical strength to swing her sword from her lowered stance. She sliced through the ceiling and wall but was unable to hit her opponent.

“———”

While falling back and making her sword strike, she saw a window to her left.

It was a classroom window.

The classroom was too small for this kind of fight and the window was the one view out of it.

The thick window blocked her way and she was bound to this fight by obligation, but…

…''Everything looks so calm out there!

She of course had a view of the school at night. The next school building cast a dark shadow and the moon had risen in the dark blue sky.

But in her imagination, Mikoku participated in the festival.

While inside the classroom and listening to the clashing of swords, she thought.

…''This is the windowsill at the very end of the line.

It would have felt nice to rest her head in her hand and stare out that window.

She then realized she probably would not have been able to speak with anyone even if she had gone to school. She was sure she would have remained silent and stared out the window.

…''All while wondering what I could do or if I was alone.

She had continued to wander through the supposed freedom of not going to school, so if she had been faced with even more guidelines, would she have hesitated even more?

''But,'' she thought.

She had lost her world, naturally wished to fight, worried over so very much, and was now fighting.

…''But if I had gone to school, I definitely would have ended up staring out a window like that one.

No matter her situation, she felt that would not have changed much.

No one would have spoken to her, she would have been fine with that, and she would have found herself walking through the festival all alone.

She would have been alone, but she still would have felt like she was participating by walking through it.

That would have made her painfully aware that she was a part of this world.

If she had bought something at a festival stand, it would have been proof of her existence.

It would have been proof that she was an element of the festival.

…''I am such a cheap person.

She liked things simple.

''Or maybe I am surprisingly spoiled,'' she thought as she swung her sword outside of her imagination.

A close look showed a faint shadow cut by in front of her.

It was likely a waitress for the café being run from the classroom. The shadow on her hand had to be a tray.

Mikoku directed her attack around the waitress.

Her opponent received the attack and made an attack of his own, but his slash was the same as hers.

“…”

She realized that both of them had been avoiding the faint shadows throughout the entire fight.

…''Are you participating in the festival, too?

In a way, treating the unseen and invisible no differently from anything else was restrictive.

As they fought, they eliminated the primary advantage of the empty concept space.

''But what is wrong with that?'' thought Mikoku as she ran out into the hallway.

Her enemy pursued and she made an attack from behind the door, but his wooden sword passed over his head to block her blade with a solid sound.

She back-stepped and rushed down the hallway toward the emergency staircase.

She held back her opponent by throwing a knife hidden on the back of her armored uniform.

She then reached backwards while making sure not to get in the way of the barely-visible shadows.

She reached toward the end of the hallway and the emergency exit.

She grabbed the knob, turned it as her enemy approached, and pressed her back against it to move the heavy door.

“—————”

She ran outside onto the concrete emergency staircase and sensed something.

It was not the night air, the moonlight, the wind, or the darkness.

She only sensed a broader version of the scene glimpsed through the classroom window, the height of her vantage point, and…

…''Yes.

From that second story landing, she looked out on the schoolyard, the neighboring school building, the people there, the scenes of morning, noon, and night that had to exist there, and the current festival.

She imagined it all.

And she sensed something about this place.

…''It is a little different.

This was not a classroom, it was not closed off, and it gave a splendid view.

There were other elevated spots and other locations exposed to the breeze, but this was the only one a few steps from the classroom.

She was certain someone had a habit of gathering here.

People who found their position inside the school to be somewhat lacking would come here as a privilege of knowing about it, and they would speak with the people walking down below and the people who arrived through the door.

She suddenly realized some writing in the schoolyard sand was plastered on the wall.

…''What is this?

She tried to check the ten or so lines of text, but the door suddenly opened before her.

It was her enemy.

“So you will not let me take my time!?”

She clicked her tongue once, intercepted with her sword, and thought as she immediately jumped down from the landing.

This was a fun time, but the festival would eventually end.

…''How will the festival end?

She knew how it needed to happen.

Deep in her heart, she pictured a certain girl for the briefest of moments.

She was certain that girl would be happy and that her happiness was completely unrelated to Top-Gear or Low-Gear.

So Mikoku carved into herself a method to end this that would allow for that.

She had a power of her own.

And as she sensed her parents with her here, she made up her mind.

This was a conclusion that only she could bring about.

Sayama ran alongside Mikoku as he chased her into the schoolyard.

He slipped through the dancing and rotating shadows, spun around in his pursuit of Mikoku, and was sometimes pursued himself.

…''What a strange opponent.

He felt her skill with the sword was a bit higher than his own. He was a skilled martial artist, but he simply did not have as much experience with swords.

Rather than blocking and striking back, Mikoku more often evaded and charged in or evaded and moved away.

She primarily fought at close range, as if assuming she could always dodge.

…''Perhaps that is due to her regeneration concept.

Even if she could not avoid an attack, it would not be fatal for her.

But a normal person was different.

If they failed to avoid an attack and the blade cut even a centimeter into their wrist, they would never hold a sword again.

She did not need to worry about that, but…

…''Oddly enough, I sense no carelessness in her.

According to Gyes, Mikoku’s regeneration had reached abnormal speeds. She had speculated that not even the mechanical speed of the automatons would be enough to fully destroy Mikoku.

For Mikoku itself, it would have distanced her from death.

She could afford to be careless.

And yet she moved vigorously and confidently while making sure to avoid the surrounding shadows, as if following Sayama’s own lead there.

…''She is not careless. She is confident.

She knew that she would not die and that she was protected by her power, so had that relief widened her field of vision?

''This is dangerous,'' he thought.

When people on the verge of death were shown their impending doom, they generally gave up and fell into that doom. When they knew they were on the verge of death in the first place, they would give up more quickly when it was placed right before their eyes.

It was the ones who overcame that fate that were the most dangerous. Even when death was right before their eyes, they would sometimes fail to notice it or shrug it off as irrelevant.

Mikoku had taken a step into that territory.

…''This is bad.

However, there were a few ways to defeat someone with powerful regeneration.

To regenerate was to not die, but that still allowed them to be defeated or beaten.

Grabbing and restricting their joints would prevent them from moving, which was enough for victory.

Strangling them and cutting off their brain’s oxygen supply would knock them unconscious, which was also a way to victory.

Both were an extension of martial arts and something he excelled at.

That was why he stayed close to her but backed away when she got too close.

And at the moment, he moved in to attack.

She would occasionally throw a knife to keep him away, but he kept up with her otherwise.

Before long, the two of them reached the center of the schoolyard.

Mikoku was to the south and Sayama to the north.

They were both near their staring points, their heavy breathing appeared white in the air, and they were covered in sweat.

“There is…”

“…no need to stop.”

They spoke in unison and they both leaned forward.

“…!”

They ran toward the conclusion.

They ran toward the conclusion of the world they both supported.

“The clashing of swords sounds wonderful.”

A voice joined the sound of wood on metal and the sound of quick evasions.

“It is a nice sound.”

One or the other of them spoke from the darkness and shadows.

“To be honest, I have no real grudge against you.”

The other replied as if accepting those words.

“I feel similarly about you. You are my opposite, but I have no further connection to you.”

Their swords clanged together.

“Then why are we fighting?”

Their feet sounded loudly on the ground.

“Because our respective positions demand it.”

They stepped away from each other on the sand and raised their swords.

“Then it would seem we both enjoy troublesome things.”

The metal sword produced a metallic noise.

“We may be similar.”

The other took a step.

“If we are similar, are two of us really necessary?”

They moved forward.

“If you could fulfill my role, then perhaps not.”

The wooden sword attacked.

“It is too bad.”

The metal sword attacked.

“We have reached an impasse.”

The wood blocked and repelled.

“There are enjoyments that only I can do. …What about you?”

Next, the metal blocked and repelled.

“Yes, I too have things that only I can do.”

The opponent spun around to attack repeatedly.

“And you cannot give them up?”

Footsteps blocked them with a wind of evasion.

“I cannot.”

A pursuing strike rang out.

“Nor can I.”

A second strike followed.

“If neither of us can give those things up, then what are we fighting for?”

Someone side-flipped over the ground to dodge.

“That should be obvious.”

They stood and began to move again.

“To ensure the things which we cannot give up.”

They pursued.

“I see.”

They pursued some more.

“I am glad you were my opponent.”

One of them ran.

“Crushing something which someone refuses to give up will pain my great heart, but…”

The other also ran.

“You are willing to do so if it is your other self?”

One moved in to attack.

“Yes, that is right.”

They attacked each other.

“Hey… What were our parents like in your world?”

They evaded at the same time.

“What about in yours?”

They attacked at the same time.

“So they were the same.”

They locked swords at the same time.

“Yes, they must have been the same.”

The two weapons creaked from the strain they put on each other.

“Hey, don’t you think this fight might be meaningless?”

A short silence followed.

“What a coincidence. But don’t you also think that this fight can be given meaning?”

One of them breathed in.

“Then…”

They repelled each other to put some distance between them.

“Yes, you understand, don’t you? The two who will cause the least possible damage to the world should settle this.”

As soon as they landed, they kicked off the sand to dash.

“Hey, Sayama Mikoto.”

Running footsteps approached.

“What, Toda Mikoku?”

They continued to approach.

“Are we the same?”

The approached without end.

“Well…”

They approached too close to measure.

“Answer me.”

They prepared their weapons.

“We are…”

The wooden sword was held at the ready on the left side.

“…the same.”

The metal sword was raised up and back in two hands.

“We are the same person.”

And the two swords were swung.

“We are nothing more than that.”

Mikoku swung her sword straight down toward Sayama.

Her sword could carve life, but he did not hesitate.

He stepped forward and drew his wooden sword from a crouched stance.

Getting the distance of a sword strike right was tricky while running, but he calmly pulled it off.

His blade would arrive directly below the wide crescent moon arc of hers, but it would not arrive in time.

She briefly narrowed her eyes, but followed through with her attack.

She immediately heard a certain sound.

It was the dull sound of something tearing into the ground.

She then saw Sayama charging toward her from his lowered stance.

“Totsuka!”

For some reason, Totsuka had not swung all the way down. It had instead stopped about a meter off the ground.

The reason was obvious: Mukiti’s wooden sword.

Sayama’s weapon was stabbed into the ground like a stake.

He had not been preparing to attack Mikoku with it.

He had instead drawn Totsuka in and caught it on the bottom of Mukiti.

Totsuka’s power attempted to carve into the life of the wooden sword, but…

“————!”

Air blew out as it resisted. The powers of two Concept Cores collided, trembled, and cried out.

“!”

Mikoku reflexively fell back with Totsuka in hand.

In that instant, Sayama straightened up after charging in below Totsuka.

His left shoulder hit the weapon and tore his clothing, but he continued running regardless.

His forward movement cut his clothing further and blood sprayed from his shoulder.

“By the name of Mikoto, I command the concepts of 2nd-Gear.”

He punched Totsuka’s blade from below.

“Fly!!”

Mikoku realized her weapon had flown up and out of her hands.

She had been holding Totsuka’s hilt, so her arms were pulled up and her body left wide open.

Sayama charged toward her and she immediately realized this could lead to the conclusion she desired.

Sayama did not hesitate.

He threw a right hook into Mikoku’s gut.

“…!”

Just as she doubled over and her chin lowered, he unclenched his left fist.

“———”

And he threw a chop.

It hit.

Her face wobbled and her body was knocked backwards thanks to the previous hit.

The flat-handed blow to the chin had shaken her head on her neck.

The greater the speed, the more her brain was shaken in her skull and the more control she lost.

This was known as a concussion and that was what had happened to Mikoku.

She might still have had control of her limbs, but with her brain taken out, she would not be able to stand.

But to win, Sayama would need to pin her down or something along those lines.

That was the way to defeat this immortal girl, this other version of himself, without giving her a chance to resist.

And at about the same time, he heard a sound.

It was the sound of breaking wood and it came from Mukiti’s wooden sword.

To the left, mist rose from the broken sword and it moved like a cobra rearing its head.

“!”

It flew toward the collection of Concept Cores to their right, where Mukiti’s small transportation pallet waited.

According to the rules, he would lose if he lost the Concept Core.

But Totsuka had been knocked into the air and Mikoku was unable to fight, so if he restrained her here…

…''It will be a tie.

Everything would end in equilibrium.

And…

“That is the conclusion I wanted!”

Sayama had decided he would not allow a division between winner and loser, even if he had to force it.

He was prepared to do whatever it took to ensure everyone was on equal footing.

Low-Gear and Top-Gear had their own circumstances and righteousness.

…''But we must face each other and accept that we are equal!

They had held a trial and fought, so he felt there could be nothing more they had to do. And…

“You feel the same, don’t you!?”

He shouted his question and ran over as Mikoku’s knees gave out and she began to collapse.

But…

“———!?”

As he started forward, Sayama saw hostility before his eyes.

It was the tip of a blade.

It was a knife.

It was one Mikoku had hidden on the back of her armored uniform.

He reflexively jumped back.

“!”

And he grabbed the knife from midair.

His eyes had focused on the blade and it took them a brief moment to focus back on the girl.

In that vague but instantaneous time, he asked a question in his heart.

…''Why?

The question came from the knife in his hand.

She had to have thrown the knife after letting go of Totsuka.

It would have been when her arms were raised, leaving her body unguarded. She had to have thrown the blade while receiving his attack.

''But,'' he thought. ''That is not something she could have suddenly decided to do.

At the very least, she had to have made the decision before the pair of attacks leading to the concussion.

And that suggested something to Sayama.

…''Did she predict my attack?

But that question brought two new questions.

First, if she had predicted it, why had she let it hit?

And second, what had she been trying to do by taking an attack that would keep her from moving?

At the same time, his eyes focused on what lay before him.

From seven meters away, he saw Mikoku collapsing backwards as her knees lost their strength.

But that was not all.

Only then did he realize what she was trying to do.

She held a knife in her right hand.

As she fell, she forcibly moved her right arm via brute strength.

A moment later, Sayama saw his other self swing her blade.

Having predicted what she would do, he cried out.

“Wait!”

She held the knife in a backhand grip and pressed it against the back of her own head.

He heard a dull sound as she plunged the knife up to the base into the back right side of her neck.

“!!”

And she pulled it forward, toward Sayama.

She was trying to cut through her medulla oblongata to reset the trembling of the concussion.

“———”

And she did just that.

Mikoku felt her mind grow instantly clear, so she calmly stood up.

She had a smile on her face and sweat covered her brow, but she kept her eyes pointed straight forward.

Totsuka spun as it fell from overhead and the pieces of the wooden sword lay abandoned on the ground.

Now that she was alive and could move, the result was obvious.

“If I catch Totsuka as it falls, I suppose I will win.”

Sayama shook his head and remained in a defensive stance.

“Wait.”

“I will not wait. If I catch that sword, I will win.”

She extended her right hand up toward the falling blade.

She slowly bent backwards as she did.

“Sayama Mikoto, you were attempting to incapacitate me so that we would tie, weren’t you? It is true that I cannot be defeated in any other way…generally, anyway.”

“…Wait.”

Sayama took a half step forward, but she shook her head.

She tried to catch Totsuka as it spun down from directly overhead, but he gave a shout at that exact moment.

“Wait, Toda Mikoku!”

“I will not wait. I made the same decision as you…but chose a different method.”

She had her own way of bringing the world into equilibrium.

“I know my only skill lies in fighting and that everyone sees me as Top-Gear’s final leader.”

So…

“Sorry, but I will take all of the responsibility onto myself. …Accept this tie and forgive them all. You understand, don’t you? Even Hajji was a victim.”

“Wait!!” shouted Sayama. “Death is the worst possible option, Toda Mikoku!!”

As he stepped toward her, she threw a knife with her left hand to keep him away.

With both her arms raised, she spread those arms, leaned back, and left her chest entirely defenseless to the falling bearer of the conclusion.

Totsuka.

In this concept space, that sword was aligned with the one whose name carved life.

The metal tip fell to pierce her chest and the philosopher’s stone embedded there.

Her regeneration power and her life were there.

But Totsuka’s blade could carve life, so if it broke the philosopher’s stone and stabbed her, she would die.

This was the conclusion Mikoku desired.

If she was gone, Top-Gear would lose its leader. Shino would choose a life of happiness and so would Tatsumi. Even Alex would be able to live out his remaining life in peace.

And if she bore all responsibility herself, Hajji and the others who had fought alongside her would not be harmed.

Low-Gear would be unable to demand any other sacrifices or anything else unreasonable.

She was still worried about the negative concepts, but if Noah began to wake up, she was certain that ''Noah herself'' would do something about it.

…''It will be okay.

Shino was not by her side, but with her parents’ power inside her, she was not alone.

That knowledge was enough.

Even if she lost her life, she would not feel lonely.

Her fight would end here.

So she raised her head toward the heavens and held her chest up toward the blade that would pierce her.

Just before it all happened, a girl rushed onto the battlefield.

She ran a short distance to charge in from outside the field of vision of the two focused on themselves.

“No!”

The girl embraced Mikoku who was trying to end it all by taking her own life.

She embraced her, pushed, and a moment later, the falling metal sword pierced through her bent back and toward her chest.

With a dull sound, the girl stopped moving as if she had tripped forward and her outstretched arms clung tightly to Mikoku.

After a rustling of cloth, the sword in her back collapsed under its own weight.

It fell toward the girl’s waist, which also moved the girl.

It moved the girl’s raised body closer to Mikoku.

The movement was accompanied by a wet sound as the thick blade sank into her gut and fell out through her back.

The sound of the sword falling to the sand-covered ground rang heavily through the air.

Afterwards, only a breath could be heard.

It sounded like all air was leaving the girl’s lungs.

Mikoku did not understand.

What had just happened before her eyes?

What had happened to her?

Why was Shino here?

Why had Shino stopped her?

She did not understand any of that, but she did understand one thing: what was going to happen to Shino now.

Mikoku stood in a daze as Shino leaned up against her. Her bent arms caught on Mikoku’s armored uniform and she finally managed to stand on her trembling legs.

But Mikoku did not know what to do.

“Ah…”

Only a tenseness that was not even a breath escaped her throat.

But she could feel the heat and trembling coming from Shino.

Shino’s heat was spilling on Mikoku’s stomach and dripping down her waist and thighs.

…''!

She did not know what, why, or how. She could not even go mad, she could not run away, she could not breathe in or out, and so she said nothing. All she could do was somehow listen to Shino’s faint voice.

“Mikoku…”

''Ah.

“Thank goodness.”

''How is this good? There is nothing remotely-

“Mikoku, you’re a coward, so I thought you might do this. Because you’re a coward…”

''Wait. Wait. Please wait. Don’t…don’t say anything.

''If you do… If you do… If you say it… If you say it…it will sound like goodb-

“And because you’re kind.”

She heard a voice say “I’m sorry”.

She tried to say “wait” but could not. She could not say it, so she remained silent. And as that silence felt like some kind of punishment, Shino’s voice continued with a hint of happiness and even some faint joy mixed in.

“I’d always known it…but it was so obvious…that I’d forgotten.”

Shino raised her lowered head.

''Don’t look at me. Don’t. I have no idea what kind of awful look I have on my face.

But Shino did look at her and gave her a smile that made her want to tell her to stop.

“You’re actually the kindest person of all, aren’t you? That’s why you’re so fearful and why you try to avoid hurting anyone. …That’s who you are, isn’t it?”

Shino mouthed the words “I’m sorry”.

She closed her eyes as she smiled.

Seeing that smile, Mikoku’s face crumpled and she opened her mouth.

“Shino!”

Her voice – her trembling voice – finally escaped.

Shino’s eyes opened a bit, but she only nodded with a gentle smile and lowered her head.

“From now on, you can be kind without having to fear, okay? After all… After all, I’m already living without my concept…and everyone is so kind to me.”

Shino’s body sank into Mikoku’s chest. She felt like nothing more than a limp mass of lingering heat.

“I won’t be a burden on you anymore, so…”

With those words, the last hint of strength left Shino’s body.

So Mikoku embraced her.

And she realized Shino wore a red cloisonné pendant along with her half-broken blue pendant.

She realized Shino had continued to wear it all this time.

Sayama found himself collapsed on the ground.

He did not know what had happened.

He remembered trying to stop Mikoku and that she had thrown a knife when he had tried to approach.

Just as he had tried to brush it out of the way, a girl had run out in front of Mikoku.

It had been Shino.

She had likely used an unstable method to enter the concept space because an odd distortion had accompanied her appearance and it had happened so suddenly.

Confused by the sudden event, the knife had approached before his eyes.

“And…”

He looked down at his own collapsed form and found a face there.

He also saw long hair bound by a ribbon and a school uniform.

“Shinjou-kun?”

“…Yes.”

Shinjou smiled bitterly as she clung to his chest.

“Sorry about interrupting.”

Those words left him speechless.

It was true she had interrupted. She had interfered while the representatives of Low-Gear and Top-Gear settled their dispute.

Seeing Shino had surprised him enough to briefly lose sight of the knife, but that was his responsibility. He could not let the interference of someone other than the Low-Gear representative help him avoid a weapon thrown by the Top-Gear representative.

But…

…''It is true she saved me.

As he wondered what he should say, he noticed something.

He held up his left hand which had been wrapped around Shinjou’s back.

“Blood…”

Enough dark-red covered his left palm to drip from it.

“Shinjou-kun!”

He got up and realized Shinjou’s body was limp and heavy.

“Shinjou-kun!”

Her bitter smile was the soft expression of someone about to fall asleep.

“Shinjou-kun!!”

He looked past her smile and saw Mikoku’s knife sticking from her back.

It was on the left side of her back and the red stain grew with the same timing as her pulse.

“———!!”

''It will be okay. Calm down. Yes,'' he told himself.

…''This situation…

He suddenly remembered his mother.

She too had protected him from an attack and embraced him. What had happened to her afterwards?

“…”

The pain inside him linked with reality.

The pain in his chest linked not to his mother and the others he had lost but instead to Shinjou who he held to his chest.

“…!!”

He embraced her and let out a yell.

A pair of cries rang throughout the dark space.

And something answered them.

The girl’s bestial cry was answered by two objects that flew down from the sky.

One was a badly-damaged mechanical dragon and the other was a similarly-damaged white giant.

The white giant fell down almost vertically and the girl standing on its shoulder looked down to the ground.

“Mikoku…”

The girl in Mikoku’s arms was covered in scarlet.

Mikoku’s chest was bared.

She was trying to use a knife to dig out the philosopher’s stone buried at the base of her throat so she could give it to the girl in her arms.

But every wound she made was instantly filled, she could not fulfill her wish, and she simply opened her mouth and wailed.

Her voice sounded like a scream or cry of anguish and the girl falling with the white giant closed her eyes.

She wrinkled her brow and audibly gulped.

“I’m sorry, Alex.”

“Do not apologize, Tatsumi. I am here to make sure you do not have to.”

“I see.” Tatsumi nodded with the ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I will take Mikoku’s side no matter what happens.”

After all…

“My emotions are nothing compared to hers.”

“Neither are mine. If this comes down to a conflict between reason and emotion…then I prefer the latter, Tatsumi.”

“I see,” said Tatsumi with another nod.

She then opened her eyes, looked down at the girl crying on the fast-approaching ground, reached out a hand, and raised her eyebrows.

“Mikoku!!”

Tatsumi gave a shout to drown out the cries coming from the depths of the earth.

“Release your desire! This is a place of conclusion! You are Top-Gear’s representative, so we will follow whatever decision you make!”

Mikoku looked up.

Her eyes wavered from the tears and her hair was a mess, so Tatsumi briefly closed her eyes again.

But Tatsumi quickly brought her expression in order and breathed in to gather strength.

“Wish for whatever it is you desire!!”

At the same time, Alex and the white god of war slammed wind against the earth and landed.

The two of them heard Mikoku’s voice in the whipping wind.

They were quiet yet distinct words.

“Give her back…”

Mikoku shouted words of emotion that were impossible yet that everyone had wished for at some point.

She extended her bloody right hand toward Tatsumi and strongly spread the fingers.

“Give her back!!”

In that instant, Tatsumi closed her eyes, accepted it all, and nodded.

She then took action to grant her leader’s request.

A gust of wind raced across the earth and ascended into the sky.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_41|Chapter 41]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_43|Final Chapter]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 41

2016-01-30T06:11:39Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 41: Title of the Heart */

==Chapter 41: Title of the Heart==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0503.png|thumb]]
''Where nameless regret takes you

''What you want to a maddening degree

''And the crest of a heart that desires once more

A clock rang six times in a large space.

The people in that underground room of Japanese UCAT’s Kanda Laboratory were watching two worlds reach a conclusion.

They all glanced upwards as the six tones continued to sound.

A single red light could be seen on the map of Tokyo displayed on the ceiling.

“So the two remaining battles will be Mikoto-kun and Hiba-kun against Hajji-kun and Mikoku-kun.”

Ooshiro nodded, took a sip of the tea sitting on the desk, and gave another gentle comment.

“This is bitter. Where is it from?”

“Testament. I had tea leaves hand-prepared especially for you shipped in from India.”

“Hand-prepared?”

“The region emphasizes sincerity, so they squeeze the tea leaves in their fists to draw out their power. …We have named it Stubborn Old Man’s Fist Tea.”

Ooshiro immediately tried to run from the room, but #8 grabbed his collar.

“Ooshiro-sama, why are you leaving your post?”

“I-I couldn’t possibly say that.”

He wiggled around but his expression suddenly grew serious and he collapsed limply to his knees.

Sweat poured down his face as he hung his head to look toward the floor.

“#8-kun, I think that sudden movement sped up the process.”

“You are imagining it. And they say one’s imagination can bring illness. …Not that we can understand such unscientific ideas. At any rate, please explain the current situation.”

“Oh, well, um, uh…”

He crawled below the desk and rocked back and forth as if bearing with something.

“Low-Gear has two ties and one loss. ''To win,'' we must win the remaining two battles.”

“Testament. I am surprised you calculated that out correctly.”

“…How stupid do you think I am?”

She did not reply. Instead, she raised her right palm toward the surrounding automatons and gently waved it back and forth. She then turned back to Ooshiro.

“We have nothing to say about that.”

“Y-you just made sure you didn’t, didn’t you!?”

“Calm down, Ooshiro-sama. To be blunt, Low-Gear is in trouble, isn’t it?”

Her expression grew slightly more serious.

“Hiba-sama is a problem.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Testament. He does not have Mikage-sama with him at the moment, so he will have to fight on his own. His odds of victory are extremely uncertain and his odds of defeat are high,” she said. “So I hope his opponent is Mikoku-sama.”

“Why not Hajji-kun? He lost pretty badly during their attack on UCAT.”

“He pushed back Abram-sama on the surface, defeated Kashima-sama and the other defense units, fought Abram-sama a second time, and then finally faced Sayama-sama. And both Arnavaz-sama and Shinjou-sama provided assistance. …One could say that he was only stopped after all those people were thrown at him.”

After pausing for a breath, she continued.

“In a one-on-one battle, Hajji-sama may be Top-Gear’s most powerful representative.”

White clothing fluttered in the city at night.

It was in front of a large building’s tiled entrance which created a small plaza of empty space.

The white clothes were atop the guardrail protecting the trees lining the road.

An elderly Arab man sat on the guardrail with a cellphone to his ear.

He was looking to the building in front of him.

“Meiji University’s Surugadai Campus.”

It was located in Kanda, down a southern slope from Ochanomizu Station which bordered Akihabara on the east.

It was to the west on the way down to the Imperial Palace.

The school building was covered in nearly olive-colored tiles and it stood twenty-three stories tall.

The university’s winter break had begun at this time of year, so not many people left even at six in the evening.

But he spoke regardless. He spoke into the cellphone held to his left ear.

“Abram…no, Sarv. Can you hear me? Hm?”

After a short delay, his carefree question received a response.

“Testament. I can hear you…Hajji.”

“Oh, is that so?” Hajji nodded. “Then I’ll call you Abram. …That sense of distance is a relief.”

“Do you really have nothing better to do?”

“We’re only ever busy when engaged in battle. Isn’t that right?” He looked to the sidewalk as he spoke. “I visited the Imperial Palace’s garden today. I realized I never had before. …I’m not going to say it looked artificial or that the security seemed far too lax. Once we change the world, it won’t need security at all. Yes.”

He gently kicked the asphalt sidewalk.

“Did you know this sidewalk was paved with bricks and Westernized about forty years ago?”

“Yes. But people began throwing the bricks during student riots involving thousands of people, so it was paved over.”

“Were they sealed away because they were thrown? Or was it because of history? Or…might it have been their will?”

“I’m not a politician, so I don’t know. But Hajji…”

“What?” he asked.

“First the attack on UCAT and then the meeting yesterday. You really do like playing the villain.”

“You sound just like Mikoku. And I’m not playing anything. This is who I truly am.”

“After the meeting, Sayama told me to keep an eye on you to make sure you didn’t kill yourself as the villain in an attempt to take all the responsibility with you.”

Hajji froze for a moment at that, but he soon responded.

“Everyone is far too kind. Have you forgotten what I did to 1st and 3rd as the Army?”

“Neither of those Gears would have been able to survive without you.”

“That was only due to our agreements. …Please stop treating me like a good person. I thought I understood Top-Gear, but I understood nothing and I used my blind hatred to borrow Top-Gear’s authority and oppose you all. Once all of this is over…I suppose I’ll be burnt at the stake or something.”

“Then let me ask you a question Sayama left with me.”

Hajji stiffened at those sudden words, but he still let out a long white sigh.

“What is it?”

“Do you think Shinjou Yukio had realized the truth of Top-Gear and the true creation of the world?”

“…”

Hajji fell silent.

“If she had, then your actions were truly those of a villain committed to evil. Sayama said that would be truly regrettable. And…he also said you do not need to answer that question.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” said Abram. “According to him, Sayama Kaoru once said that people become villains when they experience circumstances that leave them not wanting to touch anyone but those closest to them. And Sayama Kaoru had lost the person closest to him.”

“I see,” said Hajji as he closed his eyes and let out another white breath. “You are soft, Abram.”

“Not as much as you. Nor am I as hard on myself as you are.”

“You are imagining things. More importantly, have you and the wife you chose had a child?”

That question remained unanswered, but a response came in another form.

“My wife wants to build schools.”

“Schools?”

“Yes. In the sandy desert she comes from and in many other places. …She wants them to be places of shade where people are taught how to live and, in some cases, how to change or fight against nature.”

“I see,” muttered Hajji. “If it was your idea, I would have called you a hypocrite. Yes.”

He kicked the asphalt sidewalk again.

“Hey, does that land resemble ours?”

“Yes,” replied the other man. “It was just as I’d heard: no water, a drastic difference between day and night, dark shadows, sand everywhere, and the people are swept away by the wind and sand. But…”

Hajji heard him breathe in.

“There were people there who tried to change that land, lamented or tried to stop the conflict, wished to go elsewhere, or…waited for someone to arrive from elsewhere. So…”

So…

“I no longer knew what was important and I began to wish it could all be important.”

“So you did know.” Hajji placed his feet on the sidewalk. “You did. You are a hero, Abram Mesam. …You are the hero who chose this world, so you can continue on ahead. I on the other hand…”

Hajji smiled bitterly, trailed off, and said something else instead.

“Let me answer that question and you tell Shinjou and Sayama. …Tell them that Shinjou Yukio was a woman who only ever said the truth.”

With those words, he ended the call.

He stood on the sidewalk and reached out his left hand. He grabbed a long bundle of white cloth that was leaning on the guardrail and turned around.

“I on the other hand will remain in the past.”

As he turned around, he saw a short figure on the sidewalk across the two-lane road.

The boy, Hiba, wore a backpack and had walked here from Akihabara.

Hajji looked to Hiba and Hiba looked to Hajji.

Their eyes met and Hajji opened his mouth, but Hiba cut him off with a shout.

“Th-there is nothing inappropriate in this backpack! Just because I came from Akihabara d-doesn’t mean it’s filled with inappropriate DVDs and games!! A pure minor such as myself…”

He tilted his head and almost seemed to be asking Hajji for his opinion.

“...w-wouldn’t buy anything like that?”

Hajji immediately attacked with the long object in his right hand.

The surveillance plane flying over Kanda reported on the beginning of the battle.

“H-Hiba-sama has…”

The report was broadcast out to the world.

“…done something stupid!!”

Hiba ran through the nighttime city.

He ran full speed down a slope.

He chose to travel down the very center of the two-lane road because the surrounding cars were moving.

There was no one driving them because he was inside a concept space, but their residual speed kept them moving and crashing before slowing down in clumps.

As they moved so unpredictably, Hiba raced down the road while ignoring the traffic lights and letting the lights of the roadside stores wash over him.

He had pictured Kanda and Ochanomizu as a region of musical instruments and books, but he decided to forever abandon that enjoyable image.

Attacks flew in from behind him.

The attacks demonstrated the powers of fire and darkness.

A pillar of fire shot his way from behind and it burned away anything it even grazed.

And the reverberating darkness stopped all things and shattered them like ice.

The sounds of spreading flames and shattering reached him from behind, along with footsteps far wider and calmer than his own racing ones.

…''I can’t believe this.

“Miki isn’t my opponent?”

Even as he said that, he asked himself what that meant.

Was he disappointed or happy he was not fighting her?

To lighten his load, he threw out the contents of his backpack.

…''Ahh, and there were some rare DVDs and games in there.

He cried as he ran and tossed the items backwards.

“A worthless diversion!” shouted a voice behind him.

Multiple flames raced through the air and incinerated Hiba’s rare finds.

Hiba thought to himself as he watched the wind scatter the white DVD ashes into the night sky.

…''Perverted things are being dissolved into this concept space.

The next attack was directed at him, so he took a leap.

“Wah!” he shouted while jumping like a frog, stepping atop a nearby car, and jumping again.

A pillar of fire immediately swept by below his feet.

“!”

The Ochanomizu street was instantly annihilated.

Within a radius of about three hundred meters, everything along the path of the swing was turned to ashes: the trees, the buildings, and even the air itself.

The ephemeral white remnants scattered like confetti.

Hiba ran below all of those paper blossoms filling the dark city.

…''What do I do?

He jumped from car to car as he thought.

…''How do I fight?

He built up the flow of the battle.

His opponent was Hajji. The man’s combat experience far exceeded his own, the man was physically larger than him, and the man had a weapon.

Most of the factors that influenced a fight came down to one’s build.

A height difference of thirty centimeters created a full fist’s worth of difference in reach.

Hajji was about forty centimeters taller than Hiba and he was probably more than thirty kilograms heavier.

On top of that, Hajji had a weapon. The spear was likely B-Sp which Abram had used against American UCAT’s mechanical dragons during the battle with Black Sun.

Hajji had the upper hand in experience, size, and weaponry.

…''So what do I do!?

Just as he wondered that, his vision opened up.

The large intersection leading to Jinbocho came into view down the hill.

This created a valley in the dully glowing buildings straight ahead and to either side. The valleys seemed to be waiting for him there.

“———”

The cars that had collided in the intersection were stopped there, clogging up the road.

Once he reached the intersection, he would run into that group of stopped cars.

One of them was sitting below the traffic light, facing him.

As soon as he began to jump over it, he sensed a presence behind him.

…''Is it coming!?

Something like intent to kill or a premonition stroked his back and flames powerful enough to pierce straight through the car were fired toward his jumping back.

Hajji broke through the darkness that could not be fully banished by the artificial lights.

A pillar of fire shot ahead of him and instantly set a car on fire further down the slope.

The ground beyond the car did not escape that piercing incineration either.

Flames rose from the center of the intersection as the asphalt burned.

A pillar of fire rose and the explosion of air sent the car flying.

As it rose five meters in the air, even the metal parts of the car burned to ashes like kindling and the lingering flames illuminated the surrounding area.

That illumination revealed the burning intersection.

There was the sound of burning, a heated wind, a scorching pressure, and a flickering light.

They all reminded him of old times.

However, something of those old times was missing.

There was something he had always felt with each attack.

“Why didn’t I feel it hit anything!?”

As soon as he shouted, Hajji realized he could not hear his own voice.

…''No, not just my voice. My entire surroundings.

The scenery, the sounds, the temperature of the air, and every sensation besides that on the soles of his feet had vanished.

This was one of the powers of 7th-Gear’s Concept Core.

Hiba kicked off the hood of a car and flew up above Hajji.

He used the sinking and recoil of the car’s suspension to propel himself ten meters high.

The strength for this great leap had come from Nijun’s red sphere which he had pulled from the bottom of his backpack.

He had also pulled out Mitsuaki’s black sphere to seal his opponent’s senses.

Ten meters below, Hajji had stopped moving.

He had only kicked off the hood of the car and jumped after drawing Hajji’s flames in to hide him from view. And as he began to drop, he was certain that Hajji had still lost track of him and had also lost his senses.

…''Even Kazami-san and the others had trouble with this concept.

He knew what the most effective attack was when your opponent had ample experience.

…''You put them in a situation they’ve never experienced before.

[[Image:OnC_v13_0519.jpg|thumb]]

He had run and drawn in Hajji’s attacks before doing this.

Hajji would not have realized he had 7th-Gear’s concepts, so this attack was key. He knew this would not work against this man more than once.

He chose to move straight in and dropped toward his right knee.

But in that instant, he heard a quiet sound like a creaking glass door.

The sound gradually grew like a swinging pendulum.

“!!”

And it broke.

Space…no, the power of the concept shattered.

Hiba saw Hajji remove his eyepatch and…

“You stopped and shattered the portion of the concept space around you!?”

“Did you think I couldn’t?”

Hajji directed his voice up at Hiba and spun B-Sp around in his right arm.

“Now, answer me! Are you a hero!?”

A pillar of fire shot straight up toward Hiba.

“———!!”

In a split-second decision, he chose one of the four colors: blue, red, black, or white.

He chose white.

He pulled Yonkichi’s sphere from the backpack. That white sphere instantaneously swapped his and his opponent’s positions.

Hiba looked up at the rising pillar of fire and saw Hajji in its path.

It was on a collision course, so Hajji would be burned away by his own flames.

However, a denial of that fate appeared before Hiba’s eyes.

B-Sp’s all-consuming fire was stopped.

It was stopped by Hajji’s eye.

The fire stopped moving and became a glowing shape.

“Toh.”

Hajji calmly kicked the pillar of fire, breaking it.

With the sound of shattering glass, the fire crumbled away.

It looked like red and yellow flower petals scattering in the wind.

Surrounded by what sounded like small bells, Hiba realized Hajji was dropping back down with his spear aimed at him.

…''This is ridiculous!

A month and a half earlier, 7th-Gear’s Concept Core had given them so much trouble, but it did not slow this man down in the slightest.

Not only that, but he could freely destroy and manipulate his own attacks.

Hiba leaped down the hill toward the intersection to escape Hajji’s attack, but then he saw something from above the ash-filled intersection.

Hajji had kicked off empty air and was catching up to him.

…''!?

It was only after that when Hiba heard the metallic sound.

Hajji had used his eye’s stopping power to solidify empty air so he could kick off it.

The air shattered and Mitsuaki’s power shattered around him as it continued to expand.

There was no escape. Hajji descended from midair as if descending a flight of stairs.

…''He’s right in front of me!

He back-stepped as if looking up the slope just as the tall form in white dropped down in front of him.

The white cloth seemed to flap around him and he landed on the white ash-filled land in a crouch.

“You do not show your back when you run. You must have been trained well as a soldier.”

Hiba only realized a slash was coming once the man had finished speaking.

Hajji raised his right arm and swung down B-Sp2 without any flames.

“Ah…”

Hiba felt cold air running from his right side to directly above him and from the right side of his chest to the right side of his collarbone.

He also felt chilly air stroke his right cheek.

It felt cold because there was heat there.

The thought of “oh, no” came later.

“!!”

As his heart beat, the clothing covering the right side of his body was torn and color burst into the air.

It only burst out at first, but it did not stop.

He took a step back as if pushed by the pressure of his blood, but then Hajji spoke.

“You did well to dodge that.”

''I didn’t dodge it,'' thought Hiba. ''You intentionally missed.

And that was why Hiba breathed in, wiped the blood from his right cheek, and looked to Hajji.

''That’s right,'' he thought. ''I can’t hope to match him.

''But,'' he also thought.

…''I can’t let myself die here.

“Because a future of flirting with Mikage-san awaits me!”

“Did you perhaps think what you meant to say and vice versa?” asked Hajji. “And can you not take this fight seriously since I am not Tatsumi?”

Hiba gasped at the sudden mention of Tatsumi’s name.

He looked to Hajji’s face and found the man was not smiling as usual. He was staring intently and quietly back at the boy.

“Even if this battle comes to an end and the world is changed, you will still have to face Tatsumi. …And at the very least, you cannot stand before her if you are cut down by me.”

Hiba reflexively asked a question.

He maintained his defensive stance but frowned and tried to ask what Hajji was getting at.

“Why do Miki and I have to fight each other!?”

“Well,” began Hajji. “That is probably because Tatsumi chose you as her opponent.”

“B-but that’s so selfish! Then again, Miki was pretty selfish!”

“Then aren’t you also selfish for not answering her? No matter how weak you are or how much you run away, she has continued to choose you as her opponent. …But have you even once answered her?”

Hajji’s words slammed into Hiba who remained still.

“She is asking a question that can only be answered by fighting you, so until she does so, she has never once allowed herself to lose and she waits all alone. …She is waiting for your true self once you have sought true resolve.”

“But why-…?”

He swallowed the rest of his question.

The answer to that question was something only she would know.

…''I can’t believe this.

He had heard a number of reasons, but he still could not accept it.

However, he had a general understanding that she was indeed waiting for him.

“If I don’t go face her, will…”

He asked his question.

“Will Miki continue to win?”

Hajji gave him a single answer.

“Can you win?”

That question gave Hiba a single thought.

“…Can I not run away?”

“You can,” said Hajji. “But Tatsumi will wait for you even then.”

And…

“Just as you wait for another girl to awaken.”

Hiba hung his head at what Hajji said.

…''I can’t believe this.

He suddenly thought of Mikage.

He pictured her waiting for him at home, in an alley, and in the UCAT lobby.

He quite liked that she waited for him and she said she liked it too.

But that was due to a certain promise.

…''That I’ll definitely be there.

So…

“What does Miki think?” he slowly asked. “Does she think I’m coming?”

He knew the answer without being told.

…''Yes.

''What a troublesome person,'' he thought. ''She really is my opposite.

…''Is she the version of me that likes waiting?

“———”

Hiba sighed and his lungs cooled.

…''I don’t know.

He had yet to decide whether he should fight or what he should do, but…

“Miki will continue to wait for me even if I don’t know, won’t she?”

Hajji slowly nodded and lightly threw out his chest.

“Then do you know what you will do here?”

“Yes,” nodded Hiba.

''What I’m going to do and say here is outrageous,'' he thought. ''But if I don’t go through with it, she’ll probably be waiting forever.

“Please.”

He raised his fists, faced Hajji, and breathed in. As the air entered his lungs, strength filled his gut and he gathered his resolve.

He spoke to the man who had travelled much farther than him down the path of combat.

“Please be my opponent so that I might continue on to where Miki is.”

“You might lose here, you know?”

“She will still wait for me even if I do. But I don’t know what I should do for her. All I know is that I’ll lose again if nothing changes.”

“So you want to grow at least a little stronger by defeating me?”

“Yes,” said Hiba while realizing how outrageous this really was. “Miki is undefeated, but you have lost once. So at the very least, I can’t stand before her without defeating you first!”

Without hesitation, he crouched down, stomped a foot down, and used the recoil.

“…!!”

He charged forward as he wondered if he could reach the person…no, the two people who were waiting for him.

A combination attack required speed and endurance and it could only be pulled off after learning how to segue one movement into another.

It all came down to linking one attack with the next.

For example, if one sent their right fist forward, the right side of their body would also move forward.

The left side of their body would be pulling back, so it became difficult to send their left fist forward.

But what if, when stepping forward on their right foot, they twisted their heel inward?

Their body would slide rightward and it would more easily rotate clockwise.

If they kicked forward with their left foot in that instant, they would be able to move their entire left side forward along with their fist.

By repeating similar actions, they could pull off more than just a series of punches; they could put their hips behind the blows and each attack in the series would be strong enough to actually defeat an opponent.

Hiba was able to do this.

He had the speed, endurance, movements, and experience.

But in his case, that experience was not from flesh-and-blood combat.

Most of his battles against 3rd-Gear had been fought between gods of war and none of his training in the dojo or at UCAT had forced him to put his life on the line.

But he still had definite experience: experience of defeat.

…''How lame.

That was how he viewed himself. He felt he had yet to mature into a proper fighter.

''But,'' he thought. ''But what’s wrong with that?

He just could not let himself be content with that position.

…''I want to grow stronger.

He let loose his combination attack and Hajji received it.

In Hiba’s case, having his fist blocked did not mean his attack had been stopped.

He redirected the recoil of the blocked fist into his next attack.

His fists flew while he seemed to quickly spin. His knees, his legs, and especially his elbows were perfect for this high-speed rotation.

And Hajji put some distance between them.

He put a car between them and then sent his stopping concept toward the car.

But Hiba swung his body toward the slope and side-flipped out of the way.

Once he landed, he leaped towards Hajji and threw a backhand blow.

He heard a solid sound as Hajji blocked with B-Sp’s shaft.

The tip was pointed down and it flew up to scoop Hiba upwards.

Hiba kicked the tip and jumped straight up on his own.

At the same time, B-Sp collided with the car behind him.

However…

“…!”

Hajji continued swinging B-Sp.

As if he were playing golf, he hit the fallen red car toward Hiba.

A tremendous noise rang out and the “golf ball” flew.

Hiba kicked the side of the flying car and prepared to jump from it, but the car fell to pieces.

Hajji had planned this. By destroying the car just as Hiba was going to jump, he had canceled the boy’s jump.

Hiba would inevitably fall without having time to prepare for a landing.

“————”

Except he did not.

He was not acting based on reflex.

He had predicted what Hajji would do and had prepared for his landing while damp with cold sweat and warm blood.

Once he landed, he would charge toward Hajji who had just finished swinging B-Sp. The man’s eyes were turned upwards toward the car, so he would be wide open.

Except that did not work out either.

Hiba suddenly realized he had stopped falling.

“Eh?”

It lasted just a brief moment and then he heard something like shattering glass coming from the empty air below his feet.

…''He used his stopping power to create a path for my fall!?

That meant the man had predicted what Hiba would do two steps in advance.

And as Hiba’s slightly delayed fall resumed, he saw Hajji charging his way. The man rotated B-Sp once and swung it horizontally as if to scoop up the boy.

“…!!”

The spear tip hit.

The automatons in the surveillance plane heard a solid impact coming from one section of Kanda.

An electronic tone came from the surveillance system.

“Hiba-sama was hit!!”

That announcement filled the plane with tension.

Hiba had not been holding back.

When none of a fighter’s attacks could reach their enemy and they were hit first, one thing was more frightening than the injury: the loss of momentum.

Their focus would drop and they would be unable to move as quickly again.

And as if to prove that, an automaton spoke up quietly.

“Hiba-sama is not moving. He is alive but motionless.”

''I can’t believe this,'' thought Hiba.

He could see the sky. The night sky was slanted.

He thought about where he was.

…''Where is this? It looks like the school building of some university.

He was probably on the seventh floor and he was lying face-up near the window of an unlit classroom.

His moonlit bed was made from a windowsill, glass, and a broken wall.

He tasted blood in his mouth.

His back had broken through the window and was intermittently convulsing from the impact.

Pain filled his entire body and he could barely breathe.

This was the result of just one mistake.

…''I can’t believe this.

Suddenly, something blocked the moonlight.

The pale light backlit Hajji and his white cloak. The man’s shoulders rose and fell as he caught his breath and his spear was lowered in his right hand.

“What’s the matter? Hm?” he asked. “Didn’t you want to be a hero?”

Hiba just about apologized because he felt he had been rude to this master fighter.

But the voice that left his lungs said something else.

“You…”

His voice was trembling and scratchy.

“You’re so strong…but can you not become a hero yourself?”

His question brought silence.

For a few seconds, he simply tried to catch his breath and saw Hajji hang his head.

But then the man spoke from the moon’s backlighting.

“That is none of your concern. …Besides, some people do not wish to be a hero.”

Hiba thought about calling that a lie. This man had so much strength and the power to lead.

…''So why does he try to make people hate him?

Hiba did not know.

All he knew was that Hajji had not once done anything remotely unfair during their battle. He had done a few things like that during the attack on UCAT, yet he had done no such thing during this battle that he absolutely had to win.

That meant he was not willing to win at all costs.

“Kh…”

Hiba tried to get up. His entire body ached and he was frozen with pain.

His body was telling him not to move.

And Hajji’s words seemed to respond.

“How about we end this? How about we declare this my victory and thus Top-Gear’s overall victory?”

After a pause, he spoke more quietly.

“You go pursue Tatsumi.”

''Dammit,'' thought Hiba. ''I can’t let it end like this.

…''This man…

''This man still hasn’t gone all out. He still hasn’t put up a fight worthy of the title hero.

''A hero,'' thought Hiba.

''If I was a hero, I’d be able to reach Miki.

He now realized the opponent before him was a shortcut to that goal and he wanted to face him as a hero.

But his body ached and refused to move.

“————”

And then he heard a sudden noise. It came from the cellphone he had dropped on the floor.

After ringing twice, it automatically answered and he heard new sounds: hurried footsteps and a female voice.

“This is Tsukuyomi of Japanese UCAT’s Development Department. …Am I interrupting? Or did I make it in time?”

''For what?'' he wondered as he slowly breathed in and listened to the fallen cellphone.

“Listen. I’m about to let you hear something very important.”

Another sound immediately followed.

It was a heavy, deep, muffled sound, but it was also very short and it played again shortly thereafter.

…''Is this…?

It was a pulse.

“Now that we’ve made it this far, I’m sure she’ll wake up. So…so make sure you come back.”

He heard a hint of a smile in Tsukuyomi’s voice and also heard a chair move.

“Knowing you, you’re probably on the verge of death. But you know what, Hiba boy? The people who return from the verge of death, are the ones who still have something to do in this world. If you die, then why is she even trying to wake up? She has something she still wants to do here and she’s waiting for you.”

So…

“Climb up the hill leading from the underworld. Climb up that hill and you’ll find the land of the living.”

“———”

Hiba breathed in just as the call ended.

But he had managed to breathe in.

He forced in the air he needed to move.

“Ah!”

And as if tearing his own body, he moved.

Two figures jumped out into the dark city.

They attacked in midair, put distance between themselves, and landed on the slope.

They were Hajji and Hiba.

Hajji was to the west and Hiba to the east.

Hajji stood calmly while Hiba’s trembling body doubled over and blood spilled to the ground.

However, Hiba did not hesitate to charge forward.

By taking in a quick breath, he kept his body as tense as he could manage. He used the breath to keep the bleeding to a minimum and began the battle with a fist.

Hajji blocked and then attacked.

Hiba avoided the rising blade with quick footwork.

He moved in by reversing that footwork.

As the two of them continually attacked, dodged, and defended, they raced up the slope.

The top of the slope came into view, along with Ochanomizu Station and the bridge crossing the river next to the station.

The two of them arrived within one hundred meters of there.

Hiba was able to focus, so he gave a yell.

“Why!?”

He asked a question of a man who had fought more than he knew.

“Why did you give up on being a hero!?”

“Because I couldn’t protect them!”

“Neither could I!”

“But you have someone waiting for you to return. …Two, in fact.”

Hiba’s bloodshot eyes saw Hajji smile in a way he had never seen before.

During the meeting, he had seen the man smile normally several times, but never this closed-mouth smile that simply narrowed his eyes a little.

“But…”

Hiba moved quickly so his combination attack would reach.

It was as if getting a blow in would convey his thoughts.

Solid sounds rang out, his evasion and attacks flowed together, and even his own blows shook his entire body.

“But that’s too sad!”

“Emotions that can be described in words lack reality, Hiba. You know what? I no longer have anyone to protect.”

Hiba thought about the man’s words and smile.

''Oh, he might be a different form of me.

''I can stay as I am because the people I care about are still alive, but after losing the people he needed to protect, did he no longer know what to do?

''Did he give into desperation and decide to become a villain?

''Then did my step-sister who now goes by Tatsumi do the same?

He had recovered when he heard Mikage’s pulse, so it was possible he could not understand them.

''But,'' he thought about what Hajji had said.

“Then…”

Then…

“Why did you make your sister’s power a part of yourself!?”

“————”

''Yes, that’s right.

''I’m certain of it. I understand. Or at least I feel like I do. On this point, he’s definitely just like me.

“Once, I put a barely-conscious girl in a wheelchair, took her outside, and showed her this world.”

He sent out another blow that would not reach the man, but still wanted this to hit home.

“You too showed that eye this world! And you must have promised to show her a new world! And…and when you did…”

His voice rose to shout.

“You decided to become a hero, even if no one would know it!!”

His blow hit, but Hajji blocked it with B-Sp.

However, the man’s defense was slightly different from before.

This time, he pushed Hiba away as he blocked.

The next thing Hiba knew, they had reached the top of the slope.

They both let out white breaths and faced each other from a distance of ten meters.

They looked straight at each other with the light of the surveillance plane overhead.

Even as he trembled, Hiba gave a powerful nod with a serious expression.

“I will win. …So that I can continue on to those who are waiting for me.”

So…

“Please lose. …So that you can face those who waited for you.”

Hajji smiled bitterly, but…

“So you have two people waiting for you? …Kids these days are spoiled.”

The bitterness left his smile just before they both leaned forward and moved.

Hajji fought.

He blocked his enemy’s attacks, sent forth his own power, moved his body, and continually searched for an opening to victory.

Sounds reverberated around him. They were the sounds of battle and they were familiar to his mind and body.

It had only been a month and a half since he had fought Abram, so he felt fortunate to hear these sounds again so soon.

His weapons were the eye in which his sister resided, 9th-Gear’s Concept Core, and his own body.

He had no real grudge against his enemy.

That enemy saw himself in Hajji, but it was a one-sided view.

As an emotion, it was sentiment. As a color, it was green. As a texture, it was soft.

However, Hajji felt something nostalgic in that.

He and the others had once been like that.

While attacking again and again and pursuing his enemy’s movements, Hajji recalled days long past when he had fought and trained like this in the sand and below the bright sky.

His enemy here was young. The boy could easily have been his grandson.

As they fought, that boy was catching up. He had caught up in speed, he made up for his weak attacks with combinations, and he would circle around behind Hajji before sending in his fists.

To land a blow, he would make feints, throw decoy attacks, use tricky movements, and do whatever else it took.

But none if it felt underhanded. After all, Hajji was overwhelmingly more powerful.

Hajji’s blows were stronger, the speed of his straight-line movements was greater, and he had the advantage in reach, endurance, build, experience, and so much more.

So the boy used everything available to him as he faced the man.

He moved around Hajji and slipped his own attacks in. A few of them grazed Hajji, but he never managed a solid blow.

All that reached Hajji were the sounds, movements, and breaths of battle.

''Wonderful,'' thought Hajji.

''Do whatever you can,'' he thought. ''I will receive it all head-on.

''I am fighting with my full strength, but you are desperate. I will do nothing to damage that desperation.

''Why? Because a desperate opponent feels that defeat is the same as death.

''It is like a glass knife.

''Strike it on the side and it readily breaks, but to do that is to forcibly break it.

''If the glass knife breaks when received head-on, then it broke due to its own weakness.

''In the former case, the knife will never be made again. No one will know whether it was a poor-quality knife or not, but the fact that it broke still remains.

''But in the latter case, someone will surely decide to make an even stronger knife.

''This boy is the latter.

''I really do think I’m a teacher, don’t I?'' thought Hajji before thinking about his sister.

If she had lived and married the hero, would he have taught her how to use a sword?

That could never be now.

He had not taught Mikoku or Shino how to use a sword. So that they could live in the new world, he had felt they should not wield any more power than they themselves desired.

But lately, Mikoku had chosen to enter that territory and seemed to have gained some kind of confidence.

''If,'' he thought.

…''If I had trained those two, would they have become like this boy?

This enemy was filling all of his inadequacies with desperation in order to defeat Hajji.

This enemy was forming attacks from his desire to defeat Hajji.

These attacks did not come from hostility.

They were the product of a pure desire to overcome him.

''Wonderful,'' he felt.

''A wonderful enemy.

''This boy has something he must protect. He has someone who protects him, who he protects, and who creates a place for him to return to.

''He is a hero,'' thought Hajji.

And he had self-importantly asked Hajji to lose.

…''So I can face those who waited for me, hm?

''Don’t worry,'' he thought. ''You are a hero.

''And I can no longer become a hero.

''That’s right,'' he muttered in his heart. ''I am no hero.

“I am simply a man with strength.”

But his comment received a response.

“No!!”

The shout ran to the side.

“That can’t be true. After all…”

Hajji caught sight of the opponent who quickly back-stepped away.

The boy twisted his eyebrows and looked on the verge of tears as he created the space he needed to charge in.

“Why do you always think about how you can’t be with anyone!? Why don’t you ever think about being somewhere for others to return to!?”

They were ten meters apart once more. Without taking a breath, the boy shrank down like a spring.

“The people you lost are looking at this same world with you and the world you lost gave you this world you stand in now!”

“Do you really think they and their world would rejoice in a world that paves over and hides everything?”

Hajji forcefully prepared for his next move.

He decided to end this here and to win no matter what it took.

“This is a world of lies!”

“But as a false version of yourself, you spoke of them on the night of that attack!”

A voice rang through the air and Hajji calmly saw the boy take the first step of his charge.

“Are you saying even that was a lie!?”

Hajji saw an explosion of speed.

The boy had chosen to dash forward.

In what was likely his final move, he ran in a straight line in order to simply win and overcome Hajji.

The boy’s blood sprayed into the air and his body overcame his speed.

He rushed in and Hajji launched an attack on the coming conclusion.

Hiba no longer hesitated.

He used his power as he ran.

The first thing he used was Mitsuaki’s concept of non-understanding.

The concept’s power was unleashed with a metallic noise, but Hajji immediately shattered it with his stopping power.

Hiba had known it would not work.

But Hajji’s use of that power had made him waste some time, no matter how slight.

Hiba had done it because it could lead to even a tiny chance for victory.

He swung his body, propelled himself forward with the bottoms of his feet, felt a sticky sensation as the soles of his shoes left the asphalt, and continued forward.

Hajji raised B-Sp.

There was still some distance between them, so Hajji would be able to thrust B-Sp forward and send out the flames before Hiba arrived.

That was why Hiba used his next power: Nijun’s concept of truth.

There could be no lies, so all feints and diversions were sealed.

…''My movements will accurately guide me!

His body felt a bit restricted because the feints burned into him by experience were being restrained as unnecessary.

But that restrained power brought his feet more strongly to the ground and Nijun’s bodily reinforcement power raised his speed further.

However, Hajji was faster.

At seven meters apart, Hajji’s arm was just about to complete its swing.

With the nighttime city in the background and the lights of the shops and streetlights as his backlight, the tall figure targeted Hiba.

''Amazing,'' thought Hiba. ''He always uses his full strength to defeat his opponent.

He fully focused on the fight and produced the greatest movements, power, and speed he could.

This was how he had forced back Abram and the others and reached the lowest level during the attack on UCAT.

With the enemy before him, Hiba had another thought.

…''Can I become like that too?

Could he become that strong?

Hajji did not have the divine protection Izumo did. Nor did he put up with the kind of pain Sayama did.

But even without the stopping power of his eye, he would still be powerful. His physical build was a part of that, but he primarily fought with nothing more than his own body.

No one in UCAT had defeated him one-on-one.

''So,'' thought Hiba.

''I want him to be a hero.

''I don’t want him to create a false version of himself because he couldn’t protect what mattered most to him. I want him to protect what matters most to him even if it means creating a false version of himself.

''And isn’t that what he did during the attack and during the meeting?

…''Wasn’t he a hero going by the name of a villain?

Hajji had claimed to have set up bombs when negotiating with Sayama.

Hiba was certain he had intended to press that button.

But in the end, he had not pressed it.

''Why not?'' wondered Hiba.

If he would have pressed it, had been willing to press it, then…

…''He changed his mind.

Hidden below the surface, this enemy had the will needed to ''not'' press the button.

And he still did. No matter what methods Hiba used, the man was willing to receive them.

He seemed to be saying that was the proof of a truly powerful warrior.

And the man sped up his counterattack. At this rate, Hiba would be unable to reach him.

So Hiba took action. He too sped up, but once he saw he would not make it, he used his next power.

“Yonkichi-san!”

A moment later, Hiba and Hajji switched places.

Hiba stood still where Hajji had been and Hajji raced toward Hiba from where the boy had been.

The situation was simple: Hajji was moving his weapon forward while approaching Hiba.

So Hiba leaned forward.

“———!!”

And he closed the gap between them.

He used their relative speeds. Hajji had been given Hiba’s speed and Hiba created that speed in himself once more, so they rapidly approached.

But even after that, Hajji was faster.

“Ohhh!”

Before Hiba could reach the man, the muscles of Hajji’s right shoulder swelled out and he thrust his spear forward.

“Go forth, light and darkness of my mother world!!”

As he shouted, B-Sp’s flames and his eye’s stopping power shot toward Hiba.

Hiba did not have time to evade, so they were sure to hit.

Hajji realized he had released his power.

This excellent enemy had faced him head-on and he had overcome the speed that was that enemy’s greatest asset.

…''What will you do about that?

Hajji silently asked while looking at the flying flames, the expanded stopping power, and Hiba beyond them.

…''What will you do about that!?

He had launched the perfect attack to overcome this enemy.

“Can your desperation overcome my best!?”

A moment later, Hajji saw Hiba display his final power.

He threw a blue sphere from behind him. That sphere raised all attack power to maximum.

''But,'' thought Hajji. ''What will he do with that?

Hiba was unarmed.

While he might be able to negate B-Sp and the stopping power with his two fists, his arms would be destroyed and his defeat made certain.

But in the following instant, Hajji saw Hiba throw two weapons.

They were…

“Philosopher’s stones!?”

“Yes,” answered Hiba. “These are the pieces of Mikage-san’s evolution stone!!”

As if to protect Hiba, the pair of blue stones flew with maximum attack power and collided with the flames and stopping power.

And they destroyed them.

The flames and stopping power were shattered by the evolution stones that protected him.

“———!!”

Hiba’s momentum carried him right up to Hajji.

Hiba clenched both his fists and stepped forward.

Mikage could no longer evolve, but she would wake up.

One day, surely she would wake up.

That had already been determined. And once she did, he would be with her.

And at the moment, he felt she had protected him.

He also felt what he had done was selfish, but…

…''If I don’t do this, I can’t protect her!

He avoided Hajji’s B-Sp just before it reached his face.

His bandana tore and the night air reached his forehead.

He had not felt this sensation in a long while. He had worn the bandana ever since being unable to protect Mikage so long ago, but he felt like it had just been removed for the very first time.

The chilly air seemed to wake him up and told himself to redo things.

Even if Mikage could no longer evolve, they could begin much like they had when they had first met, but redone as the people they were now.

And…

…''I need to face Miki!

He would not run. He might hesitate or feel doubt, but he would no longer run away.

He would not fear fighting or try to avoid it and he would try to listen to what she had to say.

And to do that…

“…!”

He stepped forward and sent his fist forward.

In the instant of impact, he saw a smile of resignation on Hajji’s face as the man looked down at him.

Hiba had not hesitated.

He simply produced the greatest strike he possessed.

“————!!”

And he let out a roar.

Even after he was the only one left standing atop the hill, his wavering roar continued on and on without end.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_40|Chapter 40]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_42|Chapter 42]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 39

2016-01-28T05:49:33Z

68.109.63.229: Adding missing words

==Chapter 39: Empty Roar==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0449.png|thumb]]
''If this is goodbye

''Then it is just like thunder during an evening of clear skies

Lights began to appear in the city as evening arrived.

It was not long until Christmas and the end of the year.

The sky was a dark mixture of red and purple and the city did its best to illuminate it from below.

Below that light, warmly-dressed people carried a variety of things and cars clogged the streets.

A couple walked through the many footsteps, rumbling engines, speaking voices, and blaring horns.

It was a blonde girl in a jacket and a dark-skinned boy in a black coat.

The girl walked ahead, drawn in by the broiled chestnuts and lotteries at the surrounding stores, and the boy grabbed her collar to pull her back in front of him.

“Heo, don’t wander around so much. You’ll run into someone.”

“H-Harakawa, the city streets are supposed to be an exciting place toward the end of the year.”

“Shut up.”

His breath appeared white in the air as he pulled Heo alongside him.

He then looked down the street, where the train station’s roundabout was located beyond a wide arcade.

“I certainly didn’t think we’d end up wandering around near Hachioji Station. If we’d gone to Harajuku or Shibuya, you could probably have bragged about it to your classmates.”

“It’s entrance exam season for all of us, you know?”

Heo smiled with her eyebrows lowered, so he eventually said “sorry” and nothing else.

But then she raised her eyebrows again while still smiling.

“Aren’t you worried about my entrance exam?”

“Don’t come to my school.”

“That’s just mean! Y-you don’t have to be so blunt!!”

“Shut up. Lately, I’ve been thinking that your disease will get worse if you come to my school.”

She frowned and tilted her head.

“Wh-what disease?”

“The center-of-the-world disease.”

“I thought you were serious for a second, but you’re lying, aren’t you?”

“That’s what everyone with the disease says. The symptoms are doing and saying things others find incomprehensible, having your thoughts tend heavily toward radical directions, and becoming so perverted you lose sight of your surroundings.”

She nodded as she listened and then smiled.

“Are you still going on about that? …Everyone’s like that, aren’t they?”

“That means they’ve all come down with the disease. …It’s probably a moral infection and your initial symptoms are quite severe.”

“Th-then why are you okay!?”

“Most likely, I have moral antibodies. They must be of a type that has yet to be discovered.”

“Th-then.” Heo smiled and clapped her hands. “Please fill me with your moral antibodies!”

The surrounding people stopped walking when they heard her.

She stopped too with her smile frozen on her face.

“Did I just show symptoms again?”

“Just come here,” said Harakawa while dragging her out in front of the station.

The roundabout had been expanded in the past few years and a large-scale parking garage had been built underground.

That was due to the development race with the neighboring cities, but Harakawa did not think about whether that was for the best or not. He felt that was something for the local people to decide.

People looked fondly back on the old days, so in fifty years, they might be looking fondly back on this scenery.

“Harakawa,” said Heo without warning.

He turned around and saw her looking up at the Hachioji Station building and the narrow strip of sky past it.

The light of a surveillance plane could be seen there as it followed their position.

Heo’s expression was calmer than before as she looked up at the flashing red light.

“What is the meaning of this fight?”

“That’s a pretty dangerous thing to say after suddenly looking up into the sky.”

“Y-you’re too realistic, Harakawa.”

“No,” he said while looking up at the same spot. “Once the fight is over, I’ll be the unrealistic one. And that sky belongs to you, Heo.”

She fell silent, but he ignored that and touched the protective necklace his mother had made.

“I will live on while looking fondly upon reality.”

“Y-you can’t do that!”

He turned toward the shout that caused the surrounding people to look over again and he saw Heo with her eyebrows raised.

“You’ll be with me, too. After all…you’re the only one I’ll let ride me!”

The surrounding people ground to a halt once more.

After ten seconds passed, the crowd resumed walking while whispering something.

Heo groaned and Harakawa patted her shoulder.

“Try not to speak too much. The symptoms have a way of worsening when you say or do things.”

“Th-then…”

She blushed, hung her head, and pointed at a nearby broiled chestnut stand.

“I’ll be quiet, but…I want that.”

“So you want the food stand? Or is it the old guy running it? Which is it?”

“What the stand is selling.”

“You’ll gain weight.”

“I-if you only look at the result, you miss the fun of the process.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard someone make a logical argument to excuse their overeating.”

Harakawa looked annoyed, but he reached into his pocket and began to pull out his wallet.

“…”

But then a red package was held out in front of him…no, between him and Heo. It was a package of broiled chestnuts.

He did not bother wondering when the person had appeared. He simply faced the fact that she was there.

“Nagata…Tatsumi.”

She wore a brown coat, let out a white breath, and smiled at both him and Heo.

“Have a souvenir. A souvenir of your defeat.”

Below Kanda, two red dots appeared on the map of Tokyo displayed on the ceiling.

They were located in Hachioji of western Tokyo.

“Heo-sama, Harakawa-sama, and Tatsumi-sama have begun their battle.”

Hearing that report from the surveillance plane, Ooshiro crossed his arms.

“Are the pairings essentially random?”

“Testament,” replied #8. “Did you want Hiba-sama to fight Tatsumi-sama?”

“No, that would have had a pretty high cruelty coefficient and it would have become a much more personal battle. …If only I could take part.”

“Testament. So you finally wish to die. Congratulations. That is a wise decision.”

“Wow, you’re not even going to try to comfort me!?”

He scratched his head and sighed.

“But I do have a photograph of Tatsumi-kun from when she was living with the Hiba family. I could have used that to negotiate.”

“In other words, you were taking secret photos of her?”

Without even waiting for him to respond, #8 grabbed the collar of his lab coat.

“Excuse me! Is anyone here a police officer!?”

“Wait!” shouted Ooshiro while waving his hands back and forth.

At the same time, a somewhat weak-sounding voice arrived from the surveillance plane.

“The battle…is over.”

“…!?”

Even the automatons at the consoles reacted in surprise.

They looked around in confusion and found one of the red dots had vanished from the map on the ceiling, leaving just the one.

A few of them frowned as they reviewed the data arriving from the surveillance plane.

Most notably, they were looking at the elapsed time.

“It seems…”

A quiet voice filled the Kanda Laboratory.

“It seems the battle only lasted…12.04 seconds.”

The battle was composed of a series of instants.

The very first move was made by Heo’s voice.

“Thunder Fellow!”

Almost as soon as the concept space expanded, a giant mechanical dragon appeared behind Heo and Harakawa.

He had only just appeared, so he had yet to combine with the Vesper Cannon. The cannon was stored as one of his frames, but he needed to reach a certain altitude before combining with it.

They had not summoned Thunder Fellow ahead of time because he used power even in standby mode. To lower his reactor’s power, he needed to return to his concept space and rest.

His summoning was instantaneous, so this was not a real problem. In fact, it was helpful because it allowed them to store up his power to a certain extent.

…''Let’s win this.

Heo’s desire for victory was the natural thought for someone with a mechanical dragon form. She knew she was the greatest power of Team Leviathan and of the Low-Gear representatives.

And a moment later, both Thunder Fellow and Tatsumi took action.

Thunder Fellow immediately brought Heo and Harakawa inside his cockpit while Tatsumi drew a long Japanese-style Cowling Sword from her back.

After boarding Thunder Fellow with Heo, Harakawa had a certain thought: where was Typhon?

This concept space contained 5th-Gear and 3rd-Gear’s concepts. The god of war named Typhon had no will of its own, but Tatsumi’s remote control would work better here than in Low-Gear’s normal environment.

However, the answer came from a surprising location: Tatsumi’s hands.

While her right hand held the sword’s hilt, her left held a cup of Bizarre Crybaby Cherry Blossom sake.

Thus, she was not remotely controlling Typhon at the moment.

…''Where has she hidden it!?

Harakawa had Thunder Fellow keep up a continuous scan of Tatsumi’s left hand. If she let go of the cup, he wanted to know about it.

The very next moment, Heo was absorbed by Thunder Fellow and Harakawa had Thunder Fellow back away.

However, he did not leap back.

“Fire the main canon!! Use the recoil to put some distance between us!”

The main cannon was only at half power, but that was more than enough for a human target.

And it then fired that “more than enough” power.

The beam of light shot from Thunder Fellow’s mouth and his giant form was blown backwards.

“Hit her!!”

His words gave form to his desire.

The light flew in a straight line and did indeed strike the individual standing on the roundabout.

However, it did not hit her directly; it instead hit the Cowling Sword in her hand.

“Harakawa! That sword is the one Hiba’s dad was using in that dream we saw!”

Heo and Harakawa stopped Thunder Fellow in front of a building across from the roundabout and checked on the situation.

Tatsumi’s blade created an arcing silver afterimage. It had wholly absorbed the light from Thunder Fellow’s main cannon.

It happened in an instant.

There was no sound and no wind. Even the light and power had vanished, leaving only the scorching afterimage behind.

Tatsumi stood with her sword lowered in her right hand and her cup of sake in her left hand.

And after the instant passed, Heo spoke quietly.

“Come to think of it, those chestnuts are…”

“Yeah,” confirmed Harakawa.

He looked forward and saw the red package sitting on the cockpit’s main console even though they hadn’t taken it.

Tatsumi had to have given it to them while they were boarding the dragon.

During the next instant, Tatsumi swung her right hand. She reversed her wrist and snapped it upwards.

The long Cowling Sword drew an arc much like a swinging scythe.

It was coming.

Both Harakawa and Heo knew Hiba’s father’s sword could release enough power to easily slice through a building.

And here, they realized how that worked.

“That sword absorbs any power that hits it and then releases it!!”

Without bothering to agree with Heo’s conclusion, Harakawa made a quick decision: he flew.

He moved up and to the left to avoid the pressure flying from Tatsumi’s raised right arm. He used the dragon’s pressurizers to quickly ascend.

Typhon was not coming at the moment because Tatsumi’s remote control hand still held the cup, so their enemy had no aerial ability.

“Thunder Fellow! Prepare the Vesper Cannon!”

After flying upwards, they had space below the dragon for the Concept Core cannon.

That weapon was stored in Thunder Fellow’s concept space as one of his frames.

They only had to continue upwards and then fire back down to win. The sword might be an obstacle, but the shockwave and heat that a wide-range blast created around her would be enough.

And only an instant later, Tatsumi’s slash arrived.

She had transformed Thunder Fellow’s main cannon into pressure fired from her sword.

“————!”

For the first time, Harakawa and Heo saw the light of their main cannon from head-on.

However, they had already calculated out its trajectory.

Thunder Fellow flew up and to the left in order to avoid the diagonal slash.

But an instant later, an unexpected attack hit the mechanical dragon.

It had not come from Tatsumi’s sword. It had come from a completely unexpected direction.

“Harakawa! Directly above!!”

Heo gave her warning just before it crashed into Thunder Fellow’s top surface.

It felt like the entire machine was struck from above and Harakawa bounced around in the cockpit.

His chest slammed into the console and he heard a few of his bones creaking.

“…!? What hit us hard enough to get through Thunder Fellow’s inertial defenses!?”

He read the warning message from Thunder Fellow flashing on the console.

There was severe damage to the upper armor and joints. And it had been caused by…

“————”

Harakawa looked up to check.

He looked back through the canopy and saw what had fallen on top of the dragon.

“Harakawa! It’s Typhon!”

He could see it for himself.

On top of the blue mechanical dragon, Typhon had Keravnos attached to its left arm with blue chains.

“She wasn’t controlling Typhon! It was simply falling from extreme high altitude! She had predicted what we would do, so she didn’t need to control it!”

Harakawa gasped and then he saw Typhon moving.

Light filled the white giant’s eyes as it stood up despite the impact having destroyed all of its armor.

At the same time, Thunder Fellow’s voice filled his mind.

“Tatsumi has finished her sake and threw the cup in a trash can, Harakawa!”

“She has time for that!?”

Anger filled Harakawa as he forcibly swung Thunder Fellow to the right.

He was trying to shake Typhon off of them, but the god of war flew forward itself. It spread its wings and made its way toward the roundabout.

He faced forward and saw Tatsumi with her empty left hand raised.

“Now, it’s time I finished this.”

As soon as her voice and smile reached him, Thunder Fellow summoned his weapon.

The concept space hangar opened and the mechanical dragon took out his Concept Core cannon.

Heo saw it play out in an instant.

Her body came apart below her stomach and the frame pulled away.

At the same time, Typhon landed behind Tatsumi.

Tatsumi would not have time to climb on top of the god of war and fly toward them.

The damage from Typhon’s collision had robbed them of their instantaneous speed, but it was still enough to fly up into the air and achieve subsonic speeds.

As soon as Tatsumi stepped onto Typhon’s hand, Thunder Fellow’s removed frame was stored in his concept space and a forty meter cannon came out to replace it.

The process took more than an instant. It required a full breath.

But that was still enough. They had time for it to connect and then fire on their approaching enemy.

But a moment later, Heo saw something else.

Typhon quickly swung up the right arm Tatsumi stood on.

“…Eh?”

Heo knew what the god of war had done, but it took her a moment to understand what it meant.

Typhon had thrown Tatsumi with all its might

…''What is she-…?

“Heo!!”

Thunder Fellow’s voice brought Heo back to her senses.

She looked forward where Tatsumi had been thrown like an underhand line drive. She flipped around in midair and calmly raised her sword toward the dragon.

She flew toward them like a bladed shell.

But what was she going to do?

Her sword had no power stored inside it, so it was unlikely enough to slice through Thunder Fellow’s armor.

But as Heo saw Tatsumi smile and heard her laugh, she also heard Harakawa’s voice.

“Put the Vesper Cannon away!!”

“Wh-why!? We aren’t using a power her sword can absorb.”

“We are!” he shouted. “We’re using a destructive power right this moment! And she’s trying to absorb it!”

That power was…

“The power to open a concept space! The power to tear through space!!”

Tatsumi immediately spun around and used her midair rotation to swing her blade.

She was positioned just below Thunder Fellow’s right side.

She had gotten the timing just right: just after the Vesper Cannon was ejected and just before the concept space hangar closed.

Opening a concept space required a power that transformed space and Tatsumi sliced into that power.

“!”

She heard a sound much like shattering glass and felt the blow land.

The sword blade glowed dully to show it had gained a new power.

A moment later, she twisted her body and used the power she had only just received.

“…!!”

She poured it all into Thunder Fellow.

She made a horizontal slash. Even she had difficulty keeping steady after being thrown through the air at such great speed. It was enough for her body to cry out in protest.

However, she clenched her teeth and raised her eyebrows because this was worth it.

Thunder Fellow had already removed his frame and he was taking evasive actions to put some distance between them, so if she missed this chance…

…''I won’t get another one!

That thought forced her sword along.

“Seyahhh!!”

She had never let even Mikoku hear her put that much force behind her voice. She primarily fought by receiving attacks, but she actually released power from herself and it produced a clear result: space opened up.

That was her sword’s power now.

“————”

With a sound like a brass instrument being struck, the entrance to some other space was cut open.

It opened like a book and darkness was visible on the other side.

The spatial hole fired by her sword grew to the proper size to swallow its foe: the mechanical dragon attempting to take evasive action.

Without the support of its frame, the dragon failed to move in time and it was swallowed whole.

Thunder Fellow vanished into that foreign space in what seemed like no time at all.

Only air remained and the Vesper Cannon fell to the ground.

However, that was not all.

Just before Thunder Fellow had been swallowed up, he had fired lightning toward Tatsumi.

It was a desperate attack.

She trembled at the strike made even as the dragon’s defeat was certain.

…''That’s right.

Also, Thunder Fellow had sent two people from his cockpit and to the ground.

One or maybe both of them had fired that final attack.

…''A desperate attempt at taking me down with them.

She then wondered if her true enemy could do that much.

The lightning approached, but she did nothing.

The reason why was obvious.

She had lost control, continued rotating from the excess force of her slash, and crashed into the window of a building across from the roundabout.

In the moment of impact, she absorbed the shock with her back, but the glass shattered before she could finish.

The lightning struck the building’s outer wall and knocked Tatsumi into the building.

After falling to the ground next to the roundabout, Heo had lost everything except for her own breath.

“Thunder Fellow…”

She called out quietly, but no one answered her.

She simply looked up into the stars in the night sky.

She knew why this had happened.

Thunder Fellow had been absorbed by the spatial slice Tatsumi had hijacked.

He had the ability to eject his stored parts, but he needed for Heo to call out to him if he was to leave the concept space himself. And that only applied to the space that existed between him and her.

But now, that power had been absorbed by Tatsumi’s sword and used to send him into a spatial slice not under his control.

“He won’t come out…even if I call for him…”

Her vision blurred as she spoke.

“I lost…so he…!”

''What have I done?'' she thought. The words “careless”, “thoughtless”, and “failure” filled her mind and she could instinctually feel her defeat.

Her tears were proof enough of that.

“No…”

The dispute between Low-Gear and Top-Gear had been riding on this battle and she thought about what it meant to have lost. Also…

…''Thunder Fellow won’t appear anymore even if I call for him?

The power that supported her had been lost and defeated due to her own carelessness.

That double sense of fear filled her stomach with a bitter feeling and sent a tremble down her spine.

She got up to suppress the tremor and saw something like a gravestone sticking out of the roundabout.

It shined in the roundabout’s lights.

“The Vesper Cannon…”

She then realized she was at Typhon’s feet and that someone sat in the fourth floor window of the building beyond the Vesper Cannon and the roundabout.

Tatsumi shrugged from the broken windowsill with a trail of blood on the right side of her forehead.

She smiled, let out a white breath, and rested the Cowling Sword on her shoulder.

“It’s too bad you won’t get to bring the chestnuts back with you.”

Heo was shocked by Tatsumi’s words because she had lost something much more important than that.

She realized that the victor simply could not understand, more tears spilled out with each breath she took, and she thought about protesting Tatsumi’s words.

But she suddenly felt her vision going dark.

…''Ah.

She realized the emptiness in her heart was greater than the protest in her heart.

She began to pass out as everything settled down into that emptiness.

She knew she could not allow herself to do that and that she would be fleeing responsibility in doing so, but…

“Heo.”

She heard a voice from behind.

“Get some rest. And have faith that it’ll all be okay.”

Those were the words she most wanted to hear, but the ones she simply could not believe. However, she also felt arms wrap around her to embrace her from behind.

“You can share the responsibility with me, so…take this time to rest.”

She did not want to agree to that. Harakawa was in charge of piloting and attacking, but she was the one actually making Thunder Fellow move. She had been careless in a number of ways, which had led to this result, so she did not want to leave any of the responsibility with him.

But…

“It’s okay. I’m telling you to do it.”

When she heard those words, she finally passed out.

She apologized but also thanked him as she fell into the shadows.

And as her vision sank into darkness, she wondered if Thunder Fellow was seeing something similar.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_38|Chapter 38]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_40|Chapter 40]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 25

2016-01-27T05:33:05Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 25: One who Steps Back from the Past */ Small changes. Instead of changing of to for it could be that a word is missing before of such as ahead.

==Chapter 25: One who Steps Back from the Past==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0571.jpg|thumb]]
''Where should I go?

''Not as my duty

''But as what I’ve set my heart on

'''Point Allocation (Direction of Progress)

The engine division took up the bottom of the Musashi, below the standard structures holding residential districts and the like.

The large space covered nearly the entire length of each ship, was divided between a port and starboard side, and was divided into sections from front to back to a certain extent.

The giant ether engines (which were divided into blocks), the cooling system, and the control system were all located there. The ether engines were over twenty meters tall and they created Blessings from the ether fuel sent from the Musashi’s fuel tanks. Those Blessings were sent to the divine protection converter in the divine protection engine that managed most of the welfare systems, to the emblems that created the ocean on the ships’ surfaces, and…

“To the gravitational cruising engines lined up underground.”

That voice was drowned out by the sounds of construction.

It belonged to Isa of the Sanada Ten Braves. She currently sat in the gravitational cruising control block located even further port from the port engine division.

She had finished her morning job and was eating the breakfast provided for her. The breakfast was a rice ball with seaweed, a stick of pickled vegetables, and roasted beans. She appreciated the juice box of tea that came with it.

The installation floor was a level lower than the surrounding floor and it was made of a wire mesh. It was three layers thick, but what lay below could still be clearly seen through it.

…''The gravitational cruising engines. This is my first time seeing these.

Just like shogi pieces, they were lined up in a grid over the several dozen meters of the acceleration block. The lower section containing them was pulled outside during gravitational cruising and each acceleration block would work together to raise their serial output.

…''It’s pretty amazing.

''This sure is nice,'' she honestly thought since she was the technician even in their ninja village.

But her job was not to create; it was to modify. Sanada Academy did not have the production or maintenance equipment for that, nor did they have the demand. They generally bought or inherited their guns and mobile shells from major corporations or other academies and then Isa would modify them for their own uses.

And in her opinion…

“This sure is nice.”

“What is, Isa-kun?”

“Well,” she replied while barely opening her mouth toward the empty space behind her. “Anayama, you do everything with your own ninja techniques, so you don’t use anything like this.”

“I still need to gather some supplies on site, though. Anyway, have you taken a liking to the Musashi?”

“I was only looking at it from the outside before, but it’s really interesting this time.”

“Can we get down to business now?”

“Testament,” Isa raised her right shoulder to indicate what was wrapped around it. “These are the hemp cables used to transmit ether. It’s fine Far Eastern hemp, so it’s a real luxury…”

She looked down to the coil coated in dark blue plastic.

“I just heard the general plans down below and they’re about to fine-tune the wiring of the gravitational accelerators. I think I’ll hook up the cables I have on hand while I set things up for us.”

“Then take these.”

After Anayama’s voice, something fell between Isa’s legs. They looked like tea juice boxes, but they did not contain tea. Isa picked them up.

“Ten, eleven, twelve. Okay, that’s enough. If I stick them at the base of the gravitational accelerators down below, it should stop Musashino’s rear port accelerators when they try to use them.”

“Testament. So afterwards, we can sell these to other major academies or use them ourselves to promote our own skills?”

“That’s right. …It does bother me a little though. If only I was the kind of person who could feel jealous after seeing all this nice equipment.”

“That isn’t who you are. Besides, if you would destroy something out of jealousy, you wouldn’t modify guns you bought from elsewhere.”

“You’ve been paying attention, Anayama. …Oh, and one other thing.”

Isa held up a hand as if to swipe at the empty air.

“I’ve been trying out some things on my own and I think I can make an autonomous one. The parts are everywhere on the Ariake right now, so I’ve got a real advantage.”

“I think you’re the one having the most fun this time, Isa-kun.”

“It seems to have been a nice change of pace for Nezu too, so hooray for Musashi, I guess. You make sure to help out Yuri, okay?”

She just about laughed, but she held back since no one could see Anayama at the moment. Instead, she took a bite of her rice ball.

…''I wonder.

They were trying to do something about this giant ship.

Just a few ninja from a powerless academy who were viewed as unneeded were trying to do something about it.

It would be amazing if they pulled it off, but at the same time, how could they call themselves the Ten Braves if they could not do it?

…''Still, the world is headed to even greater heights.

After all, there was an opponent even this giant ship could not handle.

''That’s pretty scary,'' she thought with a sigh while drinking some tea to join the seaweed aftertaste.

“Hey, what do you think? We’ve done a lot to try to score some points since we ended up at Sanada Academy, but…”

But…

“I have to wonder if we’ve made it to the world stage.”

“We have. We’ve been there the whole time.”

Anayama’s immediate response was hardly unexpected, but she could not help but wonder these things despite being the oldest of them.

“Hey, so if we’re on the world stage…”

I wonder.

“When will we lose the ‘unneeded’ title?”

Isa ignored the silent presence that Anayama created.

“We belong to Sanada, not our previous home. I think we need to have more confidence in that fact.”

“I know that, but…”

Yes, she too knew what came next.

“What work would I accept isn’t ‘unneeded’, right?”

“That’s right. We need a job that will convince us that we are ‘needed’. In a way, that is how we can restore ourselves. So…”

So…

“Everything we’re doing concerning Musashi is meaningful. While Hashiba damaged Musashi, not even they could stop it from cruising.”

“Anayama, you’re surprisingly good at getting me excited about my work.”

“I like theatrics. Once this job is complete, I’d like to stop by a theatre in Mito before heading home to Sanada.”

“I wonder what they’re showing right now. Something mecha would be great.”

“I think the theatrical version of Mobile Checkpoint Kanjin was released. To get through the checkpoint, Benkei begins beating Yoshitsune to hide Yoshitsune’s identity, but in the divine TV version, I think Benkei was the city-size Super Benkei and a punch misfire destroyed the checkpoint. The checkpoint destruction scene was very well done, but I’d like to see something different in the theatrical version.”

“Anayama, your interests are so eclectic I can never get a read on them,” said Isa. “But anyway, Nezu and the others are doing a lot of work too, so how is all that going?”

“What do you mean?”

“Something’s a little off, isn’t it? Like with Yuri.”

Anayama did not answer. He was everyone’s manager, so he probably wanted to avoid commenting on their actions like that.

…''But this still shows his personal opinion on it.

She thought middle management jobs had to be tough, but in that and everything else, they all trusted each other as they did their jobs. So…

“I guess I’ll just do my job here.”

She gathered her things and stood up while munching on the last of the pickled vegetables.

“Physically stopping the Musashi is my job.”

She then heard a girl’s voice separate from the surrounding construction noises.

“Hey! Can you all help get everything ready so we can head down below?”

It was Hiro. She waved to everyone and pointing down with her gloved hands.

“We’re getting to the last part of the work starting today, so even the newcomers need to work hard.”

“My job, hm?”

A voice spoke in a dimly-lit, spacious, and elevated space.

It was Yoshiyasu’s voice.

She stood in a hangar with a sign labeled Musashino 1st Underground Hangar. A portion of the large equipment such as gods of war and mobile shells were stored here, but it was relatively quiet because most of the gods of war had been moved out.

“Miss Satomi, is this good enough? We did our best to make it cute.”

Engine Division Representative Taizou took a breath in front of Righteousness.

“Matching Mogami’s tastes is no easy task, but I did what I could.”

The blue heavy god of war with dog face armor stood there. Yoshiyasu looked at it and the swords at its waist on either side.

“I know I was asking for a lot, so I’m grateful you did it. I didn’t expect you to have the white for a girl’s armored clothing.”

Unlike Righteousness’s previous combat-focused blue armored clothing, it now had long white equipment such as a skirt.

“Well, we had a spare for the Suzaku that hadn’t been colored yet, so we just shortened that up a bit. You’ve let us take a look at both Righteousness and Yatsufusa, so it’s time we gave you a present as thanks. Look, they coordinated this.”

He pointed to the back where some light gods of war were cutting some armor canvas into a sail to hang from Musashi’s derrick masts. They were over three meters tall and, when they noticed her, they looked up from their giant scissors and marking pin to raise a hand in greeting.

Yoshiyasu bowed back.

“————”

She realized she had grown more humble than when she had been in Satomi.

But that was not a bad thing. She was not supporting, protecting, or guiding them; she was simply receiving their help.

Of course, since she had the full authority of Satomi, Musashi had to treat her carefully.

…''But I can’t just sit around as a guest.

That was why she wanted to be on the scene as much as possible.

But…

“…”

She looked up to Yatsufusa standing motionless next to Righteousness.

“Director.”

“Judge. What is it? If you don’t like it, we can remake it.”

The light gods of war quickly began shaking their bodies back and forth and moving their hands in a gesture of “Please don’t. Please don’t.”

Sympathetically realizing that the higher ups were strict everywhere, Yoshiyasu asked Taizou a question.

“Do you really not know how Yatsufusa is activated?”

He briefly stopped moving.

“Hmm…”

He scratched his head, but not to say he did not know. It felt more like he was trying to figure out how to explain it. Since Yoshiyasu knew the general answer, she started for him.

“Are the artificial emotions of Yatsufusa’s program rejecting me?”

“That’s the only way I can explain it.” Taizou sighed. “The eight virtues, hm? I’m not the most virtuous person, but I do have to wonder what kind of person has all eight.”

“The last two Chancellors could pilot Yatsufusa.”

“Yes, that’s what makes it so tricky,” he said. “No one’s perfect, so if they could pilot it, the eight virtues it wants must be its own interpretation of them. …Of course, that raises the question of what those eight virtues are.”

“I appreciate that you’re investigating this.”

“I don’t mind.” He waved a hand forward and back. “The Suzaku is a difficult machine, but so is this to be honest.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Judge.” He pointed to different parts of Yatsufusa and smiled for some reason. “Listen. The program that controls it is interlinked with far too many parts of the machine. Basically, it’s difficult to swap out parts. I knew it was going to have some severe balancing issues from the moment it had eight power systems inside, but this thing wasn’t built to swap out the parts for long-term use.”

“Judge. I understand. We were prepared from the moment it was built two Chancellors ago.”

Because…

“Yatsufusa is currently one of the most powerful gods of war in the Far East, but it doesn’t have any divine tech like the Four Sacred Beasts do. And since technology is constantly being improved, a lighter and more powerful god of war will be possible in a decade or two.”

“Whether something like this could be mass-produced is the real question, though. That’s just how much of a threat this thing is.”

Was that supposed to make her feel better? She did feel a little happy, but reality was a different matter.

“The Chancellor before last said it only had to last two years. Yatsufusa only had to remain one of the most powerful in the world for two years. At the time, I wondered why she was being so fainthearted.”

But now she understood.

“When Yatsufusa was completed two years ago in 1646, she had probably predicted that the nations would all begin to take action with the Apocalypse approaching. She probably thought the Warring States period would come to an end and the world would grow more peaceful. So…”

So…

“According to the Testament descriptions, after Matsudaira’s reign begins, the Satomi clan falls during my generation and nearly dies out. She left me this powerful god of war so I would be prepared when that time came.”

Yoshiyasu sighed.

She had not understood any of this.

She had been chasing after her sister and that man for two years…no, even longer. She had chased after them, constantly watched them, and thought she understood them.

…''But I never realized what it was they were looking to.

They had probably been looking much further into the future than her, so she had been unable to judge what they wanted there. And now something else came to mind.

“Director, I wonder what they wanted from me.”

“There’s no way I could know that, miss. …I’m a mere technician, not a student. It’s true I’ve used quite a bit of machinery and I think Yatsufusa and Righteousness are pretty cute. I…no, we can prepare them and send them out there…but you know what?”

You know what?

“You have to feel your preparations for yourself.”

“…Feel them?”

“Judge,” he said. “Some people can get it from themselves, but if you don’t feel that you’re helping something, it’s all a waste of time. So you don’t receive help. You don’t go out to get it, either. That’s not quite it. …So this is what I think you do.” He smiled bitterly. “What matters is that you prepare it for yourself. You have to prepare it by deciding you want to get some help. You need to be ready to pick it up when it rolls right in front of you.”

He laughed.

“Well, maybe you can’t do that yet.”

He slapped her back. It was a powerful enough blow to knock the breath out of her and the noise and pain reminded her of the past.

She had once had someone who would do that to her.

“Director…why can’t I do it?”

“You don’t have enough experience.”

He bared his teeth in a smile and pointed to the gods of war and adults behind him.

“All of them have had someone leave or say goodbye. They complain about it, they groan in their sleep, and they’ll come to a sudden stop when they remember it. Everyone on Musashi has experienced goodbye. They’re all focused on the past, but none of them are walking toward the past.”

He crossed his arms and the gods of war behind him took the same pose.

“Let me tell you something while I can, miss. Don’t chase after what you’ve lost. If you do, you’ll move toward the past and lose the time you need to build up your present self. If you get stuck in the quagmire of the past, you’ll do nothing but remember the time before the loss and walk further and further toward the past. You’ll only get more and more stuck there.”

So…

“So look to the past and cry. Face the past head-on and turn your back on the present, but make sure you cry and step back. You can keep your back to the present, but make sure to step back toward it. That way, each time you cry, you’re putting more distance between yourself and the past. That will solve most everything.”

“I’m not sure I get what you’re saying.”

Yoshiyasu asked a question.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because machines can’t lie.”

“That’s right.”

The maintenance workers surrounding Righteousness raised their arms in her direction.

“Your god of war has some reinforcements in places. From what we can see, it’s focusing way too much on when you land.”

“But we can tell that wasn’t your doing. There are also reinforcements on the wings and main frame that the pilot wouldn’t even know about.”

“What we’re saying is,” they said, “Satomi’s technicians were making sure you could do things right even if you didn’t ask them to. Machines don’t lie. …We can see the intent that went into them.”

“You heard them.” The engine division director grabbed her shoulder and turned her to the right. “Satomi wasn’t just left in the hands of the students. It was left in our hands too and we’ve been taught how we’re supposed to inherit that. Miss, this place isn’t the same as Satomi, but we can promise you that you’ll be able to move ‘forward’ just as much here as in Satomi. So…make sure you eventually look to us properly.”

He gave her a push on the back, telling her to go. As she wondered where to, she saw someone up ahead.

“Satomi President!”

The vassal was waving from the passageway entrance on the right wall.

“The Chancellor and the others are apparently going shopping at Mito, but how about we get ready to go now? Our rooms on the diplomatic ship are apparently ready and the shops and restaurants inside are running! The Treasurer’s Aide gave us a ridiculous amount of money for our trip! I just about bought a house with it, but I managed to control myself! Let’s go buy a bunch of clothes and snacks!”

''Her motivations are pretty simple,'' thought Yoshiyasu before turning back to the others.

She bowed and then jogged over toward the vassal.

Mitotsudaira hung her blushing head.

She was inside a tailor’s shop in the Mito city on the surface. One made an order in the front room and the clothing was made in the back room. That left a fair amount of time spent waiting around, but there was tea and food prepared to help pass the time.

She was currently waiting for her clothing for the trip to Sviet Rus.

…''I had to hand over my coat and skirt so they could take the measurements, so the tatami mats are kind of ticklish.

Suzu and Urquiaga of the Date group and Yoshiyasu and Adele of the Mogami group were apparently already preparing to leave inside the diplomatic ships at the land port, but it was taking her group longer because the Chancellor and Horizon had to get ready too.

They needed to hurry, but they wanted to avoid rushing and forgetting something. The diplomatic ship and the transport ships that would accompany it were ready to go, so it was now up to them.

Far Eastern tailor-made clothing was quick and reliable at times like this, and she had something to do while waiting for the clothes to be made.

…''I-I need to choose a choker design…

The idiot and Horizon peered at her from the side.

She was selecting a choker to replace the one lost in the battle with her mother. As promised, he and Horizon were with her. Kimi and Asama had come too, but…

“Heh heh. Look, Mitotsudaira. Isn’t this design of clothing really cute?”

…''What is going on here!?

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 24|Chapter 24]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 26|Chapter 26]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 24

2016-01-23T05:44:03Z

68.109.63.229: Typo

==Chapter 24: Out of Place Advisor==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0533.jpg|thumb]]
''If someone has nowhere to go

''But they have somewhere to stay

''Where will they go?

'''Point Allocation (Everyone)

Masazumi watched the door slowly close after the Satomi Student Council President and Balfette left. She then made sure the divine transmission line with those outside was in place.

“Next up are the personnel going to Sviet Rus, but this one honestly carries a somewhat difficult problem. After all, they’re currently in conflict with P.A. Oda.”

She touched the sign frame map to slide it over to the Jouetsu region.

“Also, Sviet Rus’s Uesugi clan becomes a pro-Hashiba force after Nobunaga’s death and takes Hashiba’s side during the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. They remain enemies of Matsudaira for a very long time.”

“In that case,” said Nenji with a sigh. “We cannot send anyone important there.”

“Don’t be so quick to decide that.” Masazumi stood up, took a few steps, and stopped in front of someone. “Mary. Crossunite isn’t here now, but I want you and him to go to Sviet Rus.”

“Judge. I will be fine as long as I am with Master Tenzou.”

Masazumi was relieved by her immediate response and smile, so she turned around.

“Also…Horizon and Aoi.”

Asama looked up.

…''Eh?

She spoke a reflexive question to Masazumi as the girl looked their way.

“U-um, didn’t you just say we wouldn’t gain much from negotiating with Sviet Rus? And it’s a warzone now, so why would you send Toori-kun, Horizon, and even Mary there?”

“I do know why you would think that,” said Masazumi.

Kimi nodded from the next seat over and placed her hand on Asama’s shoulder.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“No. I just feel like Tenzou-kun would be back in three days no matter where we sent him.”

“True.” Kimi nodded again, rested her head on her hand, and looked in the same direction as Asama was. “Why do you want to send my foolish brother to Sviet Rus? The only souvenirs he could bring back are vodka and sake, and that would only make Asama happy.”

“It would not make me happy. …Ah! What are those looks for, everyone!? Toori-kun, you say something too!”

She turned toward the door he had been pinned behind before.

…''Huh?

“No one’s there?”

The area was abandoned.

…''Yes.

She decided to assume his absence was intentional.

…''Yes. Everything’s fine.

She could relax when she remembered that he had to be somewhere and that this was most likely the setup for some kind of joke.

Then someone moved in front of her: Horizon. The automaton grabbed a spare chair from by the wall, placed it near the center of the floor, and beckoned Persona-kun over.

…''This is going to be something weird again, isn’t it?

Persona-kun nodded silently and sat in the chair.

“————”

Soon, a forceful blow struck the bottom of the floor panel below Persona-kun’s chair. The idiot’s voice followed.

“Huh? It won’t open! That’s odd. Huh? Ahhhn? Ahiiin?”

“Judge. Please be quiet. I will nail it shut.”

“Don’t renovate my house! And aren’t you going to praise me for my setup?”

Horizon casually began hammering in some nails.

“Ah, dammit! She’s hammering them in as accurately as an expert carpenter! C-curse you! I’ll do it right next time! I swear it! I swear it!!”

Masazumi glared toward the idiot’s voice as he seemed to run away somewhere underground.

“Anyway, we know he’s here, so I guess I’ll explain why we need to focus on Sviet Rus.”

She took a breath and looked to someone by the wall.

“Augesvarer, take it away.”

“Judge, judge,” said Heidi as she opened a sign frame on Masazumi’s instructions.

Unsurprisingly, it displayed a map of the Far East. It was zoomed in on the area from Sviet Rus to southern Kantou.

“Erimaki, show it up above.”

On top of her head, Erimaki raised its front legs and displayed the map on the ceiling.

“Now, then.” She put her hands on her hips and smiled. “It’s really simple when you get down to it. Even without advancing the history recreation, P.A. Oda currently controls the center of the Far East, right? Before, their eastern provisional border was shared with Qing-Takeda, but the Takeda side of Qing-Takeda has been destroyed.”

The red representing P.A. Oda moved in from the west to reach the western side of Kantou, but something was there to resist their invasion.

“Sviet Rus is to the northeast, Houjou is to the southeast, and both the Qing forces of Qing-Takeda and Musashi’s Matsudaira are to the east. …Now, do you know what’s going to happen with this in the future?”

“Judge,” said Mitotsudaira. She looked up to the ceiling and placed a hand on her bare throat. “Qing-Takeda will be pushed further east and Houjou will be destroyed by Hashiba.”

“That’s right.”

Heidi lightly tapped Erimaki and the red advanced from western Kantou to the southern region bordering the ocean.

“Do you understand?” asked Heidi. “Eventually, Musashi’s only path to and from the western Far East will be through Sviet Rus. Sviet Rus’s Uesugi will eventually side with Hashiba, but since the Uesugi clan isn’t actually destroyed, they won’t become P.A. Oda. And on the Russian side of things, they’ll be anti-Mlasi.”

“That isn’t all,” said Shirojiro as he crossed his arms next to her. “Ever since the Mikawa incident, Musashi has been managing the deposits of the Far East reservations and the national wealth stored in that fashion. In other words, Musashi is running a giant bank. But…”

As soon as he said that, Heidi displayed another map of the Far East. The western end had a few red circles added.

“But ever since the Battle of Mikatagahara, most of the western forces have instructed us to freeze the money they have left with Musashi.”

“Freeze…the money?” asked Suzu.

Shirojiro nodded.

“It means they will not withdraw any, but Musashi is not to use it in any way.”

Immediately, someone else asked a question: Horizon. She tilted her expressionless head.

“What are those western academies trying to do? Why would they not withdraw their money but not let us use it?”

“It comes down to the threat of P.A. Oda, Horizon,” said Masazumi. “Even if they wanted to withdraw and use their money, they’ve just seen P.A. Oda take over K.P.A. Italia. Moving money around could make them the next target of an invasion. And even if they are invaded, they can recover if they still have that money waiting for them. So now that Musashi has lost to Hashiba, they want to leave that money with us, but they don’t want us using it. And since they think the odds are good Musashi will lose again, they can’t have us using the money they’ve left with us. Plus, freezing Musashi’s money will benefit our enemy, P.A. Oda. This is a decent performance to remain on P.A. Oda’s good side. But…”

But…

“A giant city ship like the Musashi would be useful to the western forces. However, we’re currently in the east and have no means of safely reaching the west. Since we lost to Hashiba, the western forces have to act on the assumption that we won’t be returning to the west in the near future.”

“I see. So if we were to start getting along with Sviet Rus…”

Still standing, Horizon placed a hand on her chin and suddenly raised her right foot to knee height.

“…the western nations will unfreeze their money with us and we will have proven we can overcome most of our financial troubles. That is why you want to send people as important as us. …Hnn!!”

She stomped her right foot, sending a light tremor through the floor.

Immediately, the sign frame by the ceiling broke and the nudist fell and crashed into the table with his limbs sprawled out.

Voices of surprise filled the café, but they quickly quieted down.

Yoshiyasu heard them from outside.

“…”

She looked to the vassal next to her, but the girl only gave the café a quick glance before turning back to the dogs.

“Okay, go patrol the area.”

She was unfazed.

…''Is that how things work here?

''When in Rome do as the Romans do, so I guess I should go along with this. But this is still odd.

While she wondered what was going on, Yoshiyasu checked her sign frame.

'''Vice President:''' “On the economic front and to have passage through the Far East, I do not want a hostile relationship with Sviet Rus. After all, they also possess a Logismoi Oplo. Also, if we pass west through Sviet Rus and cross Poland, we will be near M.H.R.R. and Holland.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “If we reach Holland, we will have effectively made a full circuit of the Far East.”

The Mito Lord’s words gave Yoshiyasu a thought.

…''I joined them at IZUMO, so I’ll have made a half-circuit.

Was it jealousy making her think that she had seen less of the world than them?

'''Vice President:''' “Well, I guess it will mean that. But if possible, I want to secure passage through the North Sea as well as a path to meet with Sweden’s Chancellor Christina and Holland’s Resistance Chancellor and Prince of Orange, as both will be victorious nations at Westphalia. So Mitotsudaira, you go to Sviet Rus too.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “What!? …But this is my land here.”

'''Vice President:''' “You’ll be their bodyguard. Not only do you have the actual strength, but you and Mary will ‘guard’ the others with your official positions. I’m sorry, but please try to look at it like that.”

“What does that mean?” asked the vassal.

It took Yoshiyasu a moment to realize the question was directed at her.

“O-oh… The Mito Lord is the daughter of a Hexagone Française VIP and Mary Stuart is the mother of England’s next king. Those nations aren’t in conflict with the Far East, but if something were to happen to those two, it could make an enemy of Hexagone Française and England. And in reverse, leaving a favorable impression on those two could improve those two powerful nations’ impression of you. Their positions make them the best bodyguards available.”

They were using all available personnel in every way possible. They must have really wanted to obtain stability with Sviet Rus.

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Th-then I have no choice. I will join the others as my king’s bodyguard.”

'''Scarred:''' “I too will join you, secure in the knowledge that I have a role here.”

Those older state guests had decided to act for the sake of Musashi’s future. So…

“I need to rethink some things too.”

Yoshiyasu was nervous, but she had a role to play and she had little else to do. If she also had no complaints with that role…

…''I just have to go.

As soon as she thought that, some text scrolled along the sign frame next to her face.

'''Me:''' “Fine then. It’s early summer, but I’ll have to prepare some winter clothes. But…hey, where’d Tenzou go? Doesn’t he have to hear all this?”

Mary was unsure what to do when everyone started focusing on her.

The focus made her a little nervous, but not enough to grow flustered. It was something else that moved her heart.

…''Master Tenzou.

She brought a hand to her mouth and thought for a moment, but then Naruze asked a question with a tilt of the head.

“Tenzou went to that scene of that attack last night, right? Is he doing his own investigation?”

“Eh? Yes, judge. That’s what he said.”

“Really?”

Naruze tilted her head further and exchanged a look with Naito.

“Most of the investigation was completed last night, so I don’t see much point in him going there,” said Naito.

“Well…”

When she trailed off, Mitotsudaira opened her mouth to help.

“I don’t blame him. He’s the 1st Special Duty Officer, but he was late to obtain that information last night. …He probably has some thoughts about that.”

And…

“Are you worried about that, Mary?”

There seemed to be some expectation in her voice, but she was exactly right. Tenzou had been silent that morning, except when he suddenly seemed to notice he was being so quiet. Then he had said: “O-oh. I was just thinking is all.”

Overall, he had seemed different from usual.

He had acted normal after that, but…

…''I wish he would confide in me more.

She sighed, but for some reason, those around her began fanning each other.

“Kimi! Kimi! Tenzou-kun has finally started to enter the zone!”

“Heh heh heh. That’s right, Asama! It’s summer, but the temperature is rising even further! There’s going to be lots of stripping!!”

Mary had no idea what they meant, but she thought they shared in her worries. Since he was not here, she decided to ask for some advice concerning him. She wanted to know what to do during times like this morning.

“Um, can I ask something about Master Tenzou? It’s about this morning.”

“Please do! Please do!”

Mary was surprised when a group of mostly girls leaned forward.

…''They’re all worried about Master Tenzou, aren’t they!?

She could not help but feel happy about that. He was thinking about a lot and worrying, so she was relieved to have the help of these veterans who had known him for a lot longer than her.

“Um, when I woke up this morning, Master Tenzou…”

She was not used to the Far Eastern language.

…''Wasn’t like his normal self.

She did not think that would get across what she wanted to say. No one else was around to see his “normal self” in the mornings, so she decided to search for simple way to explain the problem.

She thought about what to say.

He had been sitting on his bed hanging his head.

He had crossed his arms to signify he was thinking, but he had been groaning so much that she thought he might be sick. When she had called out to him, he had jumped in surprise and immediately turned toward her. That much was normal, but today…

…''Would you describe him as disappointed?

She had a feeling that was not quite right.

Disappointment was generally in response to something other than oneself. When it was towards oneself…

…''Regretful isn’t quite right and self-loathing is too strong.

“Oh.”

She found just the right nuance. It referred to the heavy downwards direction of his mood. Was it “feeling down”? No, she had a feeling she needed more words for emphasis.

“Yes. Ever since he woke up this morning, um…”

She placed a hand on her cheek. She had trouble with the Far Eastern language, but using their language would help them understand each other.

“Mater Tenzou has been feeling himself down below.”

“He went there!?”

'''Asama:''' “What should we do?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. Don’t you mean what do we ''want'' to do? But your bow would probably be overkill here. Doesn’t the shrine have a way of torturing him?”

'''Vice President:''' “W-wait! There’s clearly something wrong here! I say we double check on this!”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Then good luck. Go ask Mary just what Tenzou was ‘feeling’.”

Masazumi took a step forward from the silent group and spoke to Mary.

“U-u-um, Mary? U-uh, about Crossunite…”

“Y-yes. Judge. What is it?”

“Um, w-was he really ‘feeling’ his p-pe…pe…no, I mean…” Masazumi blushed. “Down below!?”

Everyone sighed, so she turned toward them with a flourish.

“Y-you got a problem with that!? All that matters is that she understands what I mean!”

“You’re no fun, Seijun-kun.”

“Now, now,” said Mary as she nodded toward Masazumi. “Judge. Thank you for worrying, but it’s true.”

Yes.

“Since early this morning, Master Tenzou was feeling himself down below.”

'''Worshiper:''' “He’s quite the pervert.”

'''Uqui:''' “When did Tenzou grow so distant from us?”

'''Flat Vassal:''' “I have an honest question. What do guys normally do in the morning?”

'''Boys:''' “Um…”

Mitotsudaira saw Masazumi’s shoulders droop as the girl stepped back.

She looked exhausted and Mitotsudaira considered giving her a word of support, but…

“You handle this.”

Masazumi tapped her shoulder.

“Eh? …Wh-why me!?”

She protested, but Masazumi averted her gaze and ignored her.

If it was her turn to add to the joke, there was nothing else she could do. She finally worked up her nerve, stood up, and stepped forward. She stood in front of Mary and forced a smile.

“Um…uh…”

She thought about what to ask. She of course had no intention of asking how healthy or hard the 1st Special Duty Officer was in the mornings. If she was going to ask about this, she had to do so more objectively.

“Mary, when you woke up, what was the 1st Special Duty Officer doing?”

“Judge. Master Tenzou was sitting cross-legged like this, facing the wall, hanging his head, and…quietly feeling himself down below. Yes.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “What was that guy doing with the wall this morning?”

'''Asama:''' “Mito! Mito! You mustn’t get emotional! Calm down!”

Mitotsudaira took a deep breath and swore to herself she would not forget to smile.

“Did you…see anything else strange?”

“Judge. I’m not sure I would call it strange…but if you ask me, he was feeling himself down below extremely hard.”

“Eh? …Extremely hard? Down below?”

“Yes. He has felt himself down below on occasion before, you see.”

“B-before? Um, since when?”

“W-well…”

Mary seemed a little concerned by how Mitotsudaira latched onto that comment. ''Oh, no,'' she thought, but then she saw Mary sighing.

“Sometimes when he’s busy at work, he doesn’t arrive in time to pick up our rations or he misses a chance to go on a walk with me. He tends to somewhat feel himself down below when that happens.”

'''Smoking Girl:''' “What has that guy been doing at the ration station?”

'''Wise Sister:''' “Heh heh heh. Somewhat feeling himself? …That ninja tries to be a sneaky ninja even there, doesn’t he?”

'''Me:''' “Y’know, this is pretty bad. Tenzou’s entering brand new territory here.”

Mitotsudaira did not want to agree, but she had to. Hoping this ordeal would end soon, she asked another question.

“And what did you do, Mary?”

“Well, I called out to him and he jumped in surprise.”

'''Me:''' “Yeah, that’ll happen if you’re caught off guard. I’m used to it, though.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “That’s something we’re really not too familiar with…”

''I suppose not,'' thought Mitotsudaira as new text arrived on her sign frame.

'''Still Got It:''' “But I think it’s best when a guy’s got that much energy. I don’t know if it’s thanks to my divine protection, but my husband is always ‘extremely hard’ in the mornings before he even wakes up, so we’re doing it ‘extremely hard’.”

'''Silver Wolf:''' “Why was that in the present continuous tense!?”

Mitotsudaira looked over to Asama who was in charge of the divine transmission settings, but she and Hanami refused to look her in the eye.

Mary then continued.

“Master Tenzou was the same during breakfast, so it was hard to bear.”

“Mary-sama, I believe that is the normal reaction,” said Horizon. “It would be difficult to enjoy your food like that.”

“Judge. That’s right. When someone important to you is feeling himself down below, it’s normal to be worried.”

“Yes, yes! Very normal!”

Mary seemed relieved that everyone agreed.

''Don’t worry, Mary. We have someone who can be a nudist, crossdress, and cook dumplings all at once, so we can give a proper retort…I mean, reaction to more normal strangeness.

But then Mary’s shoulders stiffened.

“But he won’t tell me why he’s feeling himself down below.”

“Well, explaining it can really ruin the mood,” said the idiot. “Hey, don’t look at me like there’s something wrong with me!”

“Um…” Mitotsudaira chose her words carefully to best describe what to do in that situation. “At times like that, I think it’s best to just be by his side. It can double as keeping an eye on his behavior. Anyway, um, what did he do then?”

“Judge. He went to inspect the site of last night’s attack while still feeling himself down below.”

'''Mal-Ga:''' “Is he an exhibitionist!? And what’s he planning to do there?”

'''Gold Mar:''' “I kind of think it would be best not to think about it too much.”

That was when the café door opened.

“Sorry I’m late. 1st Special Duty Officer, reporting for duty!”

Tenzou was a little disturbed when everyone gave him a look he had never seen before.

…''Eh!? What brought this on!? Is that a mix of contempt and anticipation?

“You’re the worst,” said Naruze. “But I’ll still put you in my doujinshi.”

“Wh-what is this about!?”

“Crossunite.”

For some reason, Masazumi was blushing as she held her right hand out toward him. Behind her, the idiot raised his right forearm a little and shook it up and down, but he ignored it.

“What is it, Masazumi-dono?”

“W-well, it can get in the way of your duties and there are a number of public morals issues, so try to stick to the more standard methods when controlling yourself. Also…don’t do it in public.”

''Is she talking about stress? Well, dealing with these awful people on a daily basis ''is'' exhausting.

Asama raised her hand.

“Masazumi, as our Public Morals Committee Member, I say you should rethink sending Tenzou-kun to Sviet Rus. …It would be a lot of trouble if he started doing it during a negotiation.”

“Personally, I think he’d lose it to frostbite in no time if he tried that in Russia,” said Naito.

''What are they talking about?'' he wondered and looked over to see Mary smiling at him with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

''Oh,'' he realized. ''This morning.

So he faced Masazumi.

“Not to worry. I had a lot on my mind, but after looking around the scene of the attack and thinking about some things, I’m feeling quite refreshed.”

“…Refreshed?”

“Huh? Why do you look so disturbed? I’m just saying inspecting the scene and moving my body around left me feeling refreshed.”

“We understand, so you don’t have to say it again.”

He had Noriki’s assurance, so Tenzou looked straight at Mary.

“Sorry for worrying you. …From now on, I will try to confide in you and…well, sometimes I might not say anything, but…”

He was afraid of how the others would react, but he said what he thought he needed to say.

“Can I rely on you at times like this, Mary-dono?”

Mary was briefly confused.

…''Um…

The others were saying something with their sign frames and Naruze was starting to draw something with unbelievable excitement, but…

“Um, you mean…”

His request to rely on her had confused her…or rather, she did not know how to react. After all…

…''This is the first time he has asked something like that of me.

No, it was possible he had when he had confessed, but that had been more about a powerful desire for her.

…''But this morning was about himself.

She had a feeling he would try to put on a brave face, but he would let her accept him.

“————”

She would be able to support him, the boy who had accepted all of her. He would let her. And he had called that “relying” on her.

…''Yes.

Mary obeyed the feeling inside her. She had decided in England to live her life the way she wished and she had gone to the person who would let her do that, so…

“Judge.” Mary smiled. “When you’re feeling like that, feel free to rely on me as much as you want. It would make me just as happy.”

“G-good. J-Judge.”

He nodded with his hat pulled deep over his eyes, so she gestured to the seat opposite her.

She was not sure she should already be thinking about what to do from now on. And she was worried it was conceited of her to think relying on her would allow him to continue saying he was “fine”.

But one thing did bother her.

“Um, Lady Masazumi? Master Tenzou will be fine, so can we get back to talking about Sviet Rus?”

“Judge.” Masazumi nodded. “I’ll send the details with the log, but the ambassadors to Sviet Rus will be Crossunite, Mary, Horizon, Aoi, and Mitotsudaira. …We’re counting on all of you.”

Crossunite answered after a moment.

“Judge.”

Masazumi heard him agree without hesitation and heard Mary breathe a sigh of relief.

…''I guess the two of them will have to come up with a fundamental solution about him “feeling himself down below”.

With that settled, she moved on.

“Next is who we’ll be sending to the Date clan.”

She looked to both of the people she was about to name.

“Mukai, Urquiaga. That will be you two.”

Suzu tensed up.

…''Eh?

She was surprised and caught off guard. She wondered why she would be chosen, but she also felt like this was the right decision. There was one main reason for that.

“Because of…England?”

“That’s right. You already have experience as a diplomat. You’re also the Musashi’s acting captain, so you’re more than qualified to be an ambassador.”

“Heh heh. Wait right there, flat-chested politician. Don’t you have something to tell her? You can draw people in by leaving things unsaid, but you mustn’t do that to those close to you.”

“Yes, I know. That’s why I said ‘more than’. Are you listening?”

Suzu nodded, so Masazumi continued.

“We’re giving them the Musashi’s acting captain, so from Date’s perspective…you’ll mostly be a hostage.”

“Really…?”

She often heard the word “hostage” in a suspenseful drama on the divine radio or television. Robbers would hole up in the bank, point their matchlock guns at the workers, and demand a means of escape. That was generally when the magistrate would show up for the following scene:

“Ha ha ha. Silly robbers, you should learn how to use those matchlocks before trying something like this. The safety’s still on.”

“Eh!? …Ah, you tricked us, you son of a bitch! Get him!”

Her parents would always seem satisfied and say things like “That magistrate tricks someone every time” or “That’s a pretty personal interpretation”. But in that case…

“Will you s-save…the hostage?”

“Eh? Oh, well, you aren’t guaranteed to be a hostage. But it could happen. Basically, we’re leaving an important person with Date as a safety to ensure we don’t become enemies. We’re saying we won’t attack them because we don’t want to lose you, Mukai.”

…''Eh?

“B-but…I’m not th-that important…”

'''Musashino:''' “Allow me to interrupt. In reference to our duties on the bridge, I would make the following ranking: Suzu-sama = Asama-sama > Adele-sama > Everyone Else > Neshinbara-sama > Chancellor. Over.”

'''Me:''' “Are those ‘>’ things arrows!? So the further you go, the better you are!?”

'''Musashino:''' “It is the exact opposite. Over.”

'''Me:''' “Did you have to answer that quickly!?”

'''Hori-ko:''' “Those at the bottom should take a lesson from Asama-sama and rethink their life.”

'''Asama:''' “But why me? I’ve barely ever been on the bridge.”

'''Musashino:''' “You are always a huge help with the divine transmissions. Without you, we would lose most of the Musashi’s divine transmission support, which would place a larger burden on us. When Suzu-sama is on the bridge, we can fulfill our maid roles as automatons and her sensory support reduces the burden on us. Adele-sama helps guide the ship. As for the others…

“●'''Neshinbara-sama: His pessimistic assumptions and forceful course instructions are quite dangerous.

“●'''Chancellor: In the way, lifts our skirts, nudist, sleeps, plays porn games on the bridge monitors, etc.

“Over.”

'''Asama:''' “Maybe that last person really should rethink his life.”

''I see,'' thought Asama as she realized how important everyone was. So…

“Um, Suzu-san? If you think going to the Date clan would be too difficult, I can go in your place.”

“Eh?”

Suzu looked her way and began clasping her hands in front of her chest. She may have been hesitating because the speed and complexity of her finger movements grew.

But…

“N-no. I-I’ll go. B-because…”

She continued moving her hands as she turned toward Masazumi.

“Are the Date people…b-bad people?”

It was Urquiaga, not Masazumi, that answered. He stood his tail up and seemed to be sitting on it.

“If you define ‘bad’ as a lack of elder sisters, then they are indeed bad people.”

“Urquiaga, just so you know, Date Chancellor Masamune is female and has a younger brother.”

“Then they are good people, Ambassador Mukai.”

…''It looks like he’s willing to go now, but is that a good thing?

Asama was mentally sweating, but Suzu had stopped moving her hands and she faced Masazumi once more.

“Then…n-nothing will happen…if I go, right?”

“Nothing should. After all, the Date clan becomes Matsudaira’s approved ruler of Oushuu. Causing trouble between the two academies now would be the same as throwing away their future.”

“A-are the…D-date people…good people?”

“Yes. If you remain true to yourself, I think they will all be good people.”

Asama said that with a smile and Suzu smiled back while squeezing her clasped hands.

“Okay… Th-then I’ll try my best…to do that.”

…''Oh?

Everyone sensed something in Suzu’s words there.

Suzu was speaking in the active voice.

It was possible she intended to continue like that as long as this continued. She was so intent on remaining true to herself, that she was straying from her usual self.

…''Not good, not good.

Kimi then tapped on Asama’s shoulder and Asama knew what that meant.

“Um, Suzu-san?”

Suzu looked up at her again as if asking what she wanted, so Asama and Kimi replied in unison while giving the girl a thumbs up.

“Yay! Let’s do our best.”

Suzu unclasped her hands and raised her own right thumb.

“Y-y-yay…”

She blushed and her voice faded away, but Masazumi spoke up to help.

“Um,” she began. “I will handle the negotiations over divine transmission. I will have Asama prepare a direct connection with Date, so I’ll make sure Mukai and Urquiaga can converse with everyone else in both audio and video. It will be through the sign frame, but your situation will be little different from sitting with us in the classroom.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Asama with her job in mind.

She then turned toward Kimi who was tapping her shoulder again. The other girl held her hand to the side of her mouth and spoke quietly.

“Hey, Asama.”

“What?”

“Aren’t you glad you have something to do? You don’t like being neglected, do you?”

“Um…do you have a point?”

She tried to speak forcefully to act as a warning, but Kimi narrowed her eyes and whispered from behind her raised hand.

“Crybaby.”

“Y-you’re calling me that again!?”

When had she seen? When had she noticed? Asama did not know, but of the others around her, only Toori gave her a thumbs up.

She blushed and opened a sign frame with a displeased look.

“Okay, I’ll be sending out the necessary settings, so everyone bring out your sign frames or handheld shrines!”

The spear resembled a long sword.

Muneshige held it atop the gravel. He tried swinging it once or twice in Sakai’s yard.

…''The weight balance is more like a nagamaki than a spear.

That was because the blade and shaft were of about equal length. The strength of his arms on the shaft would be directly placed on the blade. He briefly considered whether he should hold the top and bottom as with a spear or just the bottom as with a long sword.

“Now, then.”

When he spun it around as if catching at it with the fingers of his right hand, he found the balance was nice near the blade. That meant the shaft was heavy, so as he rapidly spun the spear, he passed his swinging hands to the front and back.

“——————”

Finally, he caught it in his spread right hand.

He held it near the front.

…''For now, I will use it like a spear.

Next, he judged whether to hold the blade to the side or upwards.

“Looks like I don’t have anything to teach you.”

Sakai spoke from the veranda while bending forward to rest his head in his hand. Muneshige looked back and held the blade out so he could see.

“The blade has been well maintained.”

“I had ‘Okutama’ look over it all beforehand. I used to have Sakakibara do it, but it’s been neglected since he was sent to Edo. It should be in perfect shape, though. …Oh, and any thanks should go to Tamako.”

While continuing to work through the black disks in the back, “Okutama” turned around and bowed toward Muneshige.

“Maintaining and fine-tuning equipment should go without saying. Over.”

“Wait,” said Sakai. “Was that an indirect way of scolding me?”

“Musashi” carried in enough tea for everyone.

“The problem is that you are aware of the problem yet do not fix it. Now, Sakai-sama, shouldn’t you tell him how to use Kamenuki? Over.”

“Probably, but I think it would be better if he figured it out himself. It’s better to find your own way to use something than to force yourself to use it the way someone else said to.”

“What do you mean?” asked Muneshige.

Sakai did not answer, but Muneshige did not press any further because he knew that was the kind of person Sakai was.

Meanwhile, Gin and “Asakusa” (in her new clothes) walked in from behind the house.

Gin held a few pieces of firewood in her large false arms. They had yet to be chopped.

“Master Muneshige. Use these to test it.”

She gently threw one high in the air toward him.

Gin threw the firewood toward Muneshige and his spear, and she watched the immediate result.

…''I would expect nothing less.

The spear stabbed through the firewood. The meter long blade had stabbed halfway into the wood. The blade was thick, so the wood swelled out after being pierced.

“That will slice it in two.”

Muneshige said that with a bitter smile just as the firewood did indeed split in two.

However, something bothered Gin. That result was to be expected, but…

“Master Muneshige.”

“You noticed too, Gin?”

She had not, but he held his left palm up to eye level, asking her to throw another one.

She nodded and recalled the past. Back when he had still been training at the Tachibana house, he had gone through training much like this.

Her father had said it was to teach him how to deal with a midair enemy and then asked her to “throw one my way”. She had made a full-power overhand throw on the same level as the Valdés brother’s pitches, and she had aimed at the face. Her father had been mad at her, but she had not found it fair for him to be so angry after he successfully sliced it in two. Muneshige had then told her to use a gentle underhand throw and she had done so.

…''I may have already been treating him kindly even then.

“Gin, you can use an overhand throw if you want.”

''You intend to outdo my father!? I would expect no less, Master Muneshige.

Delighted, she did as he said. He spread his hands further apart on the shaft and swung the spear vertically.

“…”

With a solid sound, the airborne firewood was sliced apart and the two halves flew to the left and right.

He had split the wood. He had done so by swinging the long blade down into place, but Gin noticed something.

“It did not cut as sharply this time.”

It was different from before.

The first piece of firewood had been pierced noiselessly. It had pierced the wood so sharply that the fibrous structure had not had time to tear.

But this was different. The force of the blade’s collision had split the wood, so it had made a noise and the halves had flown in either direction. If it had cut as sharply as the first time, there would have been no noise and the halves would not have flown away. It was the same blade, so what had caused the difference?

…''What is this?

“Gin, can you throw one pretty high up?”

“Judge.”

He was testing rather than questioning, so she made an overhand throw like she used to.

…''I used to be able to make a hundred meter long throw.

She threw it along an arc that would pass high above his head and he turned his back to her.

“Is this how it works?”

He used the spear to pierce the firewood as it passed over his head and flew into the distance.

Muneshige grasped what had happened through the tactile feedback before anything else.

…''Would you call this “assistance”?

He faced Gin again and held up the spear. The firewood was skewered about halfway down the long blade.

“That was the same piercing power as the first time.”

As he held it up, the wood split and fell apart. Gin was the first to comment on this third result.

“Does it accelerate when piercing something? Is that how it felt?”

“Judge,” he replied because that was indeed how it had felt. “When you take aim and make the thrust, it moves forward. The first time, my actions were a little delayed, but it may have adjusted its movements to match me. So this third time was the spear’s true power. After all…”

“You were ‘chasing after’ the wood, yet it pierced it just as well as the first time.”

“That’s right. I think the piercing assistance was fine-tuned from the beginning.”

Stabbing deep into the wood when it was thrown toward him was hardly a surprise.

But this third time, he had been stabbing at it after it passed over his head. The wood was light, so his strike should have simply knocked it away from him. And even if he had pierced it…

“The blade would not have stabbed halfway in as it did the first time.”

“Couldn’t you do it, Master Muneshige?”

“I was not trying to this time. In fact, I was trying to see what happened when I didn’t.”

But the result had been even greater than he had expected.

…''And when it stabbed in, I felt like all resistance vanished.

He looked to Sakai and held Kamenuki up toward the man who was bending forward and resting his head in his hand.

“May I ask one thing?”

“Sure, What is it, Muneshige-kun?”

“Judge. Is there anything I should yell when activating it?”

“Do you like that kind of thing? Don’t you find it embarrassing?”

“I am used to it after yelling ‘amore’ for Gin.”

“Master Muneshige, please let mine be something special.”

“Fair enough,” he replied with a smile.

He looked to Sakai who got up.

“It isn’t anything that amazing. But, Muneshige-kun, what kind of power do you think Kamenuki has?”

“Limited assistance for piercing attacks. Would that be accurate?”

“Not quite,” replied Sakai.

…''Not quite?

If he had been completely wrong, he could have changed his way of thinking about it. But a slight difference was trickier. However, Sakai did not give the actual answer.

“How about you, well, try it out some more? It can be tricky to use, but once you get the hang of it, I think you’ll use it better than I ever did.”

So…

“This may be selfish, but I’m hoping you’ll make this fun. Yes.”

A bell rang just as Sakai finished speaking.

It was the hourly bell of Musashi Ariadust Academy and it rang eight times.

“Now, this would normally be when classes start, but I’m sure everyone will be preparing for their diplomatic jobs today. It must be tough having so much work to do.”

“Yes.” Muneshige nodded and adjusted his grip on the spear in his hands. “I think I will put a little more effort into this.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
}}
</noinclude>

Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 23

2016-01-16T05:46:33Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 23: Inexperienced Thinker in a Blue Place */ a small change

==Chapter 23: Inexperienced Thinker in a Blue Place==
[[Image:Horizon4A_0509.jpg|thumb]]
''The starting signal

''Is always something unexpected

''Which can sometimes piss me off

'''Point Allocation (Be Honest)

A certain space was completely empty.

It was a room. The window gave a view of Musashi Ariadust Academy’s schoolyard and the land bridge leading to the entrance.

It was the student council room at the front of the academy’s third floor. The sign frames emulating the morning sun illuminated two figures inside the room.

One was Ookubo in a Far Eastern girl’s uniform, apron, and bandanna on the head. The other was Kanou who was similarly dressed. Ookubo pushed her glasses back into place and looked across the entire room.

“Now, that should be enough cleaning up. All we found were strange dolls and indecent games, though. There wasn’t anything of value in here…”

“I have arranged for the Public Morals Committee to store them all. I believe they can help prove that the Student Councils of previous years did not take their duties seriously.”

Kanou then looked to the entrance. Ookubo also turned around to look at the plain wooden boxes with package artwork piled up in the hallway.

Ookubo glared at them and Kanou took on a similar expression.

“According to the records, this room has been used ever since Principal Sakai’s time.”

“He was from Mikawa, wasn’t he? Why was he using it?”

“Judge. During his conflict with the Pope-Chancellor, he used the old Musashi for transportation and would stay here in the old school building. Although based on what I have heard, he only used it for the short route northward.”

“Judge,” said Ookubo to show her understanding. She then placed her hands on her hips. “Principal Sakai is a hell of a guy. …To think he would not just defy the Pope-Chancellor back then, but win too.”

“The current Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers have done something very similar, you know?”

“They haven’t won yet.” Ookubo sighed. “And it isn’t the Pope-Chancellor they’re defying. It’s the world.”

“Judge. Then, milady, what should we do now? There have been a few uncertain actions, but should we deal with them or ignore them?”

“Well.” Ookubo smiled bitterly with her back to the window. “If we produce results, we won’t need any excuses. …We can only work hard toward that end.”

So…

“Kanou-kun, do what you can if you see a chance. …How do the Student Council and Chancellor’s Officers intend to handle the ambassadors they’re sending to those three nations?”

“Judge. Based on what information I have, the three nations just recently sent their acceptance via the Provisional Council. Currently, I assume they are discussing the issue in the Main Blue Thunder they were using as a meeting room last night.”

“Those upperclassmen really like working outside the academy, don’t they?”

Ookubo looked over her shoulder and tilted her head as she viewed the Musashi which had just begun its morning remodeling shift.

“Well, it does help us improve our own work.”

The Main Blue Thunder was completely full.

Masazumi had been there before most of the others and she watched everyone finishing up their meals.

“Futayo and the Tachibana Couple had other business to attend to, didn’t they? …Well, they weren’t even under consideration for this, so that’s fine.”

“Heh heh heh. Sleepover politician, quit putting on airs and tell us what you want. Why did you gather us all here? Don’t tell me you want to have a group marriage interview over breakfast!”

The café door opened and Sanyou stepped inside, but she immediately ran back out.

“Ah, Sanyou-sensei! This isn’t a group marriage interview! Where are you going!?”

“Come to think of it, we can’t have other people coming in here. Okay, I’ll go out and put up a ‘Closed’ sign.”

“Wait! Don’t go outside naked! And don’t try to complain that apron you’re wearing changes anything!”

Yoshiyasu raised her hand and stood up.

“I’ll keep watch outside. …Oh, and the food was good. Western food is nice every so often.”

“What’s this, Yoshy!? Do you want to make my foolish brother your bride!?”

Asama spat out the tea she was still drinking because she had gotten a late start to breakfast due to her water purification.

“Wh-what are you talking about, Kimi!? It may be true Toori-kun can be a bit of a heroine since he has a slender waist and skinny neck, is an excellent cook, can walk on his toes, gets captured, and is a great listener, but…!”

“Tomo, um, I sometimes think that too,” said Mitotsudaira. “But you don’t have to be that blunt.”

“Judge,” added Horizon. “I too had somewhat determined the same thing.”

“Yes,” agreed Adele. “I see the Chancellor like that a little too…”

As everyone else sank down in their seats to agree, Yoshiyasu sighed.

“You’re choosing the ambassadors, right? That has nothing to do with me, so I’ll wait outside.”

“Understood,” said Masazumi while raising a hand toward the girl. “We’ll make sure you can hear the conversation. Just watch on with your sign frame. Oh, you too, Balfette.”

“Oh, judge. I’ve got guard duty too? I think I’ll call some dogs to look after the back entrance.”

“Please do,” said Masazumi before turning toward Asama.

Masazumi took a breath when she saw Asama nod with Hanami appearing on her shoulder.

“Then let us begin. As the Satomi Student Council President said, we will be beginning a new diplomatic strategy concerning the three local regions. And to start with…”

She raised three fingers on her right hand.

“We will be sending a few of us to Sviet Rus, Mogami, and Date.”

Masazumi saw Naomasa raise her left hand in her work uniform.

“I’d like to prioritize the Musashi’s remodeling, so what are you going to do about that?”

“For diplomacy, the remodeling, and everything else, I will distribute our personnel where they are most needed. …If there are ever multiple candidates, I’ll decide based on who would be most valuable where.”

“I’d prefer to avoid any differences in values.” Naomasa smiled bitterly but shrugged. “Judge. I’ll do what you say whatever might happen, Masazumi.”

“I appreciate it.”

Masazumi repeated the sentiment in her heart. Naomasa was working on the Musashi’s remodeling and having her on their side went a long way in keeping other workers from objecting.

…''But still…

''Maybe I’m overthinking this,'' she thought while looking across the others here from Class Plum.

…''They seem to like these political events a fair bit…

She glanced over at one corner of the café.

“O-oh, no! If I’m sent to Sviet Rus, I may begin worshipping the white fairies there and never return! If that happened, the poor children of Musashi would feel so lonely!”

“Curry made with the spring water of the Mogami River would be Moga-miraculously good.”

“Hmm. I might freeze if I went somewhere too cold…”

“Ha ha ha. Stay in the tube with me and there’s nothing to worry about, Nenji-kun!”

“Ah! Pe-yan! Are you already searching for walkthroughs on beating the Sviet Rus characters in Savage Historical Reign: Super Nininbaori!? Oh, but the most recent location test revealed that Xavier’s Kappahame can be downgraded to Two-Level Homosexuality with a Mid-Level Tea Utensil, so now isn’t DLC Kanou Eitoku considered the best with his Sabi Gauge?”

''You people are jumping the gun here. And I have no idea what that last one was all about. Anyway, stay positive, Honda Masazumi. Keep your thoughts positive when unpleasant things happen. But I do feel like I’ve had to keep my thoughts positive an awful lot lately… Well, I just have to think of that in a positive light too…

“M-Masazumi? Why do you look so depressed?”

“Oh, just thinking about some things. But…”

…''But it’s good that all of them are so motivated.

The idiot seemed to be thinking about some things recently and he would likely find some kind of answer eventually.

“Okay.” Masazumi raised her hand. “Listen, everyone. This isn’t just about the ambassadors being sent out. I have something to tell all of you concerning how Musashi as a whole will face these three nations. …In other words, we need to be prepared to take action.”

They all faced her. Silence fell and she felt her mood lifting a little.

This small expectation pleased her, but did that mean she really had been feeling worried lately? Or…

…''Oh, I get it.

She realized that it had simply been a while since they had taken action on their own.

''But we’re not there yet,'' she thought. ''We’re still in the post-defeat phase. We need to set a new starting point somewhere.

So with that in mind…

“Musashi’s basic policy is to not allow anything to be lost. With that as our basis, we will be taking the following policy toward the three nations.”

She nodded at the center of the silent group.

“First, our official priorities will be the peace and stability of Oushuu.”

Yoshiyasu watched the sign frame while sitting in the chair prepared at the Blue Thunder’s entrance.

'''Vice President:''' “I want the ambassadors to seek the peace and stability of the Oushuu nations’ academies.”

''That’s pretty standard,'' thought Yoshiyasu from the point of a view of a Student Council President. Oushuu had always minimized any conflict as they competed over their development.

So if Matsudaira was going to rule the Far East in the future, they needed to announce they would bring “peace and stability” to bring back Oushuu’s previous lifestyle.

…''Of course, that means they need to know what it is the Oushuu powers want.

Yoshiyasu was unsure if she should give a warning there, but then the next words arrived.

'''Vice President:''' “Do you understand what I mean by seeking peace and stability?”

Yoshiyasu frowned and tilted her head.

…''What you mean by seeking peace and stability? Don’t you just mean as a diplomatic policy?

If conflict erupted between the other academies, the ambassadors would protest by saying they “sought peace and stability” and would suggest that Musashi might interfere in their conflict. That would allow them to act as an intermediary between the two nations or to promise support in their recovery. That could bring a hastened end to the conflict, and it could also allow them to focus on the conflict while Musashi handled everything else.

It was a common method during conflicts and the Testament Union had often played the role of the intermediary.

But Musashi’s Vice President spoke.

'''Vice President:''' “As Musashi’s Vice President, I command all of you here to seek the peace and stability of Oushuu.”

However…

'''Vice President:''' “If it has to do with the history recreation, then you can generally ignore it. And don’t stop any attacks against Musashi. We’ll defend against those here. But make sure you stop any other conflicts or any losses that would be brought by the history recreation.”

“Also,” she continued.

'''Vice President:''' “Do not kill. You can resolve things with a conversion of values, such as negotiation or trade, but killing is an act of consumption that can never be balanced out. Oushuu cannot act at the moment because they have had their sense of values changed. You need to return those values to normal. That will return everything to the way it was.”

Masazumi stood up and looked across the others.

“Listen. There have to be quite a few residents of Oushuu that are saying they preferred how things used to be. The best way to move those people to action is actually to suggest the future peace and stability of Matsudaira. As long as the method does not bring a loss, use what you can to return Oushuu to normal and guide them to their proper future.”

She said “listen” once more.

“Work with Date, Mogami, and Sviet Rus and suggest the peace and stability that Matsudaira can build. That means the conflict created by Hashiba will only be a temporary dream and it means we will end Hashiba’s history recreation of the Korean invasion.”

What exactly did that mean?

“In other words, we will bring an end to Hashiba’s history recreations and advance the world to the age of Matsudaira. …We will hold the future in our hands.”

Yoshiyasu was left speechless by the Musashi Vice President’s announcement.

“…”

She frowned and sighed, but then found herself glancing over at the vassal next to her.

However, the glasses girl in a track suit was looking at her sign frame, doing something with it, and giving food to the dogs that showed up.

“Okay, take care of things over there. If anyone weird shows up, give them a good chomp.”

The vassal watched the three-dog unit run off with raised tails.

“————”

Then she suddenly turned toward Yoshiyasu and tilted her head with a hint of a smile.

“Is something the matter, Satomi President?”

“Well… About your Vice President’s announcement just now…”

“Judge. I think that’s a common way of looking at things for us. We have the personnel needed for it too. Although those personnel are all such awful people. Still…” Her smile grew a little. “I feel like we’re finally making it official after waiting for a good opportunity.”

“But…that’s crazy. Last night, you told Date Narumi you would be sending an ambassador on the assumption that you wouldn’t interfere. And now you’re telling that ambassador to stop any conflicts?”

“Judge. Don’t worry. We’re all scarily good at making excuses for things.”

''At least try to deny it,'' thought Yoshiyasu, but she also had a feeling this was how things had been since she had arrived.

…''Are they really doing this? Actually, they’ve probably already made up their minds. I should be asking how this is going to turn out.

She started thinking about what was to come, but…

“Ah.”

“Is something the matter, Satomi President?”

The vassal asked the same question but with a definite smile this time, so Yoshiyasu nodded first.

“Well,” she began. “I’m an outsider here, but I have kind of unfairly decided that I would observe how you handle things here in Musashi.”

“Judge. That’s right. This complicated stuff doesn’t have anything to do with you or me. Normally, anyways. …Then again, Musashi isn’t exactly normal.”

'''Vice President:''' “Okay, I’ll start with who’s going to Mogami. That’ll be the Satomi Student Council President and Balfette. Good luck.”

“Waiiiiiit!!”

Yoshiyasu started running at full speed from the very first step.

Everyone saw Yoshiyasu throw open the Main Blue Thunder’s door.

“What are you thinking!?”

The nudist was striking a pose in front of the door, so he was sandwiched between it and the wall, but Yoshiyasu did not even notice.

“Why me!?”

Masazumi and the others exchanged a glance.

After a while, Horizon raised her right hand and spoke after the others gave her a nod of understanding.

“That is a refreshingly new reaction.”

Masazumi nodded in agreement and then realized something.

…''Huh? Does this mean I’m being corrupted by Musashi?

“Um, Asama? If possible could you use a ‘bullying meter’ or something to check on me?”

She turned around to see Asama with her back turned. The shrine maiden was whispering with Hanami about a sign frame displaying some kind of meter. But when the Mouse noticed her, she frantically karate chopped the sign frame to pieces.

“I-it’s nothing. Clap!”

“Y-yes. It’s nothing, Masazumi! It’s relatively fine!”

''What is and relative to what?'' she wondered, but she decided to trust the expert’s opinion. It did worry her that the expert was also a carrier of the infection, though.

“What’s wrong, Satomi President? Is something the matter?”

Satomi’s Student Council President raised her voice and eyebrows.

“Why am I being made an ambassador to Mogami!? I’m from Satomi Academy!”

“One of the reasons is to demonstrate that Satomi has joined Matsudaira.”

Satomi’s President’s mouth hung open at the immediate answer, so Masazumi decided to casually continue as if throwing it out there.

“Another reason is so Satomi Academy can show that it wants to work toward the peace and stability of Oushuu.”

“W-wait. …Are you deciding our policy for us!?”

“Eh? …Is Satomi not going to do anything about Oushuu?”

Satomi’s President groaned and wrinkled her brow.

“Well, I didn’t say that… But our territory was-…”

Someone interrupted. It was Naomasa who stood by the wall. She spoke after nodding toward the girl.

“It’s not that we don’t understand Satomi’s situation. …Masazumi, you don’t actually need Satomi to do this, right?”

“Judge. If you can’t do it, then you can’t do it. Some things just can’t be helped.”

“That’s for sure…”

“Yes,” agreed Naruze who sat at an added table with Naito. She was pouring cream into her coffee cup to draw a picture. “After what happened to Satomi’s land, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if their representative became a stereotypical depressed character. …You are a year younger, so you can just watch us. The Satomi clan helped us a lot and we’ll pay you back for that, so head back with what you’ve learned once this is all over.”

After hearing all that, Satomi’s President raised her eyebrows, breathed in, and stared at Masazumi.

“Are you making fun of me!?”

''She bought it,'' Masazumi told the others with some secret eye contact.

The next to speak was the Aoi Sister.

In the seat next to Asama, she pinched at the tart from the night before and looked to Satomi’s President.

“But Flat Girl, weren’t you saying Satomi wouldn’t do anything? No, ''can’t'' do anything? After all, you lack so very much: territory, people, money, and breasts.”

But…

“But listen, Flat Girl. None of those are a reason for you yourself not to do anything.”

“—————”

Satomi’s President was left speechless, but then she gasped.

“No, wait! What do breasts have to do with this!?”

“You silly girl.” The Aoi Sister lifted Asama’s up from below. “Based on my personal investigation, girls with large breasts have larger and calmer hearts! See? You can jiggle Asama’s all you want and she won’t get mad at you!”

“Kh…! Kimi? I’m going to give you a calm and big-hearted scolding later. I’m going to scold you like crazy.”

“You don’t have to go along with that,” muttered the others, but Masazumi ignored them and faced Satomi’s President.

“So do you understand now?”

“How the hell could I!?”

…''Eh? But I sort of understood that. Does that mean there’s something wrong with me?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hanami hurriedly hiding a sign frame, but she decided not to worry about it. Instead, she sighed, let her shoulders droop, and spoke to the other girl.

“Satomi President, are you listening?”

“…I understand.”

…''Eh? Does she understand or not?

'''Mal-Ga:''' “The concentrated insanity in this room must have gotten to her.”

'''Gold Mar:''' “Wow, Ga-chan, you’re really good at drawing my face with milk.”

'''Obscene:''' “The buffer between her thoughts as a leader and her thoughts as an individual is preventing her from being honest with herself, isn’t it!?”

That was more or less it, so…

“Do you understand?”

“Testament. No, I guess I should be saying ‘judge’ now.”

Satomi’s President looked up at her with her shoulders lowered.

“I have no nation, no people, and no money. …All I have are myself and the Satomi history recreation that I’m continuing.”

In other words…

“There is one thing I can do despite having nothing. …I can make diplomatic use of Satomi’s history recreation. Isn’t that right, Musashi Vice President?”

“Yes. With no national strength, the history recreation will become the foundation of the Satomi clan’s negotiations. …But there is a way to make up for a little of what you’ve lost.”

“By acting as a representative of Musashi, right?” She sighed. “By becoming a member of Musashi. …That will give me personal funds and the backing of Musashi as a ‘nation”.”

She relaxed her shoulders again, looked to Masazumi, and then bowed.

“Very well. …I will go to the Mogami clan. Please make the necessary arrangements.”

''Good,'' thought Masazumi now that she had a decision from Satomi.

She then looked toward the entranceway.

“Balfette, you go with her to Mogami, but the Satomi President will be the main player.”

Balfette tilted her head while peeking in from outside.

“Should I think of this the same as at England?”

“We’re forcing you in where you weren’t asked for, so the situation is a little different. Think of our diplomatic strategy this time as a business strategy. We are seeking the stability of Oushuu, Jouetsu, and Kantou via Matsudaira and we have invited the Satomi President as an advisor. I would be the general manager.”

“I see.” Mitotsudaira nodded. “We’re using Yoshiyasu as an advisor because she knows a lot about Kantou and Oushuu, and then we’re giving her the authority she needs as a diplomat.”

“That’s right. And just for now, Balfette, I am making you an aide to the 5th Special Duty Officer. Mitotsudaira will not be going to Mogami, but you will be acting as a knight’s aide and as the Satomi President’s aide.”

“Judge.”

Balfette nodded and looked to Satomi’s President. The Satomi girl’s brow was still a little wrinkled, so the vassal smiled at her.

“Well, we have a strategy laid out for us, so we’ll manage.”

“I hope so…”

“Don’t worry. We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure of it,” said Masazumi while raising a hand toward Asama.

Asama smiled and nodded, and a sign frame appeared next to everyone’s faces. A picture of Hanami danced inside it, but…

“I sent a program to all of your sign frames. Oh, and it’s a generic one so it will work on Catholic ones or others not from our shrine.”

“Tomo? What is this?”

“It sends our divine transmissions primarily through the IZUMO pathways instead of just the Musashi ones. They’ll be sent through Kantou IZUMO and IZUMO HQ for transmission over the divine network set up between all of the Far East’s shrines. Unless you’re being blocked by a jamming spell, you can send your divine transmissions from anywhere in the Far East.”

Everyone sounded impressed, but Mitotsudaira asked a question with a smile frozen on her face.

“Tomo? Don’t tell me…”

A sign frame appeared next to Mitotsudaira’s face, displaying the Reine des Garous smiling and waving. Mitotsudaira quickly stabbed her hand through the sign frame to break it and she forced a smile with raised eyebrows.

“Tomo… This was set up with Hexagone Française’s backing, wasn’t it!?”

“Yes. IZUMO is neutral, but it’s still best to have a sponsor for this sort of thing. Mouri is currently opposing P.A. Oda. And in addition to Hexagone Française, this also uses some allotment of the divine networks of the M.H.R.R Protestants and some Mlasi sects,” explained Asama. “But, well, your mom immediately signed the contract once I said I would periodically send her pictures of you. …Cooperative friends really are indispensable.”

'''Still Got It:''' “That’s for sure.”

“Cooperative!? I think she’s using us!”

“Calm down, Mitotsudaira-sama.” Horizon placed a hand on Mitotsudaira’s shoulder. “Listen, Mitotsudaira-sama. If you think of it as your embarrassing pictures saving Musashi, then wouldn’t it be a very-…”

Horizon placed a hand on her forehead and thought for a moment.

“…Let’s change the subject. A cheerful topic would be best.”

“A very!? A very what!?”

“Wait a moment,” said Masazumi, but Mitotsudaira only tilted her head.

“Anyway, are you sure you want to only send Yoshiyasu and Adele? Even if we can give them the authority to negotiate, we’re sending them to what could become a warzone.”

“I will have the Satomi President bring Righteousness with her.”

“Wait,” said the Satomi President herself. “Righteousness is a weapon. I can’t bring that to another academy so easily.”

Masazumi thought about that. ''This is going to be a little tricky,'' she decided.

“Satomi President, your primary god of war is Yatsufusa. You inherited it from the previous Chancellor after all.”

“—————”

The dumbfounded Satomi’s President’s face paled, but Masazumi kept her eyes on the girl.

“Listen,” she began. “Currently, Yatsufusa is not under your control. …I am well aware that it and Murasamemaru on your waist there have not accepted you as their master. But even so, you are Satomi’s Student Council President and…”

And…

“Satomi’s Chancellor.”

Yoshiyasu listened.

“You hold the full authority of Satomi. Both the nation and the academy. That means you must always carry with you whatever you can. If you can’t use Yatsufusa, that means Righteousness. If you’re worried about it being a weapon, then use ceremonial equipment. That is all.”

“Why?”

“Because you must return alive.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“Because you hold the full authority of Satomi.”

“No, not that. That isn’t what I mean.”

Yoshiyasu noticed a grim feeling inside her as she asked her question.

“Why are you so intent on treating me as the full authority of Satomi?”

“Because we made a promise with the previous Chancellor of Satomi,” quietly answered Musashi’s Vice President. “To repay him for the great price he paid for Matsudaira’s future, we promised to take care of you and Satomi. The history recreation ensures that Matsudaira is the future ruler of the Far East, so we can’t break a promise we made with someone else.”

“This is…thanks to Yoshiyori?”

“Looking at it now, you could say that, yes. But we are not the kindest of guardians.”

Musashi’s Vice President turned a sign frame of Oushuu toward Yoshiyasu. She tapped at Mogami and smiled toward the other girl.

“Show us some results here to determine exactly how we will treat you from here on out, Satomi President. Show us whether you can bear the full authority of Satomi on your own.”

“You really suck at motivating people.”

Yoshiyasu suddenly recalled the past. She began to wonder what her sister and ''he'' would have done at a time like this.

…''I lived an easy life back then.

“All you have to do is give me some snacks and flatter me a little. Then I’ll do it without being told. …But Righteousness doesn’t have any ceremonial equipment right now. I will need some equipment from IZUMO.”

“Judge.”

After seeing Musashi’s Vice President nod, Yoshiyasu placed a hand on the door.

“I’ll listen to the rest outside. …I’m eager to find out who will be sent to Date and Sviet Rus.”

<noinclude>
{{HorizonNavbar
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 22|Chapter 22]]
| [[Horizon:Volume 4A Chapter 24|Chapter 24]]
}}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 23

2016-01-16T03:24:16Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 23: Windy, Moon-Filled Sky */

==Chapter 23: Windy, Moon-Filled Sky==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0257.png|thumb]]
''Below the moon

''And amid the wind

''What exists along with the ground there?

Sayama and Shinjou walked through the school.

They walked along the gravel beside the line of trees behind the second year general school building. They were on their way to their student dorm.

As the moonlight poured down on him, Sayama held a paper bag and had Baku sitting on his head. Shinjou smiled empty-handed next to him.

“This may sound self-important, but my opinion of you has improved a bit, Sayama-kun.”

“Has it?”

“Yes. In my discussion with Ryouko-san, I learned you are surprisingly timid.”

“Why did that improve your opinion of me?” asked Sayama with a bitter smile.

Shinjou replied to that bitter smile. His own smile disappeared, but his expression was still relaxed.

“You have been thinking about something all this time, haven’t you? You have been constantly thinking about something important to you that you can’t tell me about. The reason you can’t make up your mind right away despite how important it is for you must be because it involves a connection with some other person. Am I right?” He took a breath. “When people grow timid when thinking about some other person, it is because they want to be with that person.”

One of the sets of footsteps stopped.

It was Sayama’s. He had stopped walking.

After taking two steps ahead, Shinjou turned around while bathing in the moonlight. Their eyes met. As Sayama received Shinjou’s gaze, he narrowed his eyes a bit and opened his mouth. He tried to say something in response.

“…”

But only silence fell to the ground from his mouth.

He hung his head down and nodded once. Sayama then looked back up. He looked back at Shinjou while making sure not to knock Baku from his head.

“You and your sister are interesting people. You know how to always hit me where it hurts and then you make me say what exactly it was that hurt.”

“Really…?”

“Yes, really. You managed to get right to the point I was most conflicted about.”

“What are you conflicted about, Sayama-kun?”

Sayama opened his mouth once more and finally gave an answer.

“I am conflicted because it seems giving up on trying to get serious would be for the best.”

“…Eh?”

“Everyone around me is saying I should just quit. I have no confidence in myself. The world I live in now is small, but it provides plenty of stimulation. Also…” He nodded. “If I am to get serious, I want someone to act as my mirror image. I want someone who is the opposite of me. …But that would be inviting that person into danger. In that case,” said Sayama. “Giving up would leave no problems. Other than the ones inside me.”

“I see,” said Shinjou with a nod.

But Shinjou lightly kicked the ground. He kicked away some of the white gravel making up the ground and turned toward Sayama once more. Shinjou’s eyebrows were straight, his gaze was straight, and he simply opened his mouth to ask a question.

“Are you…okay with that?”

He asked a question, but he did not try to get an answer.

He lightly embraced his own body and asked another question.

“Hey. About what you said before… Who is it you are thinking about?”

“Well…”

“Is it your mother who wanted you to do something one day? Is it Ryouko-san who cared for you even if for a short time? Or is it the person you do not want to invite into danger? The person who is your opposite…”

Shinjou opened his mouth and began to speak a certain name.

But an electronic tone cut in between the two of them.

It came from the cell phone in Sayama’s pocket. The electronic whistle sounded at set intervals as it called for him.

Shinjou and Sayama exchanged a glance.

Shinjou then nodded and approached Sayama. Once he reached arm length, he held out his hands.

Shinjou took the large bag from Sayama.

With his hands free, Sayama took the black cell phone from his pocket and held it to his ear.

“It is me.”

A voice came from the phone and entered Sayama’s ear.

It was a female voice he had never heard before. The voice uttered the following words.

“Hello, Sayama-sama. I am Sibyl, the communications officer for Japanese UCAT’s Team Leviathan.” After her introduction, the woman naming herself Sibyl said, “I would like to speak with you for a moment. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” said Sayama as he glanced toward Shinjou and then looked up into the sky. “What is it you need?”

“Tes. I would like either an acceptance or denial of an emergency deployment request,” said Sibyl. “Today at 18:37, contact was lost with the transport plane transporting the holy sword Gram as it flew over Mount Hyono on the eastern edge of the Chugoku Mountains. At 18:59, an expansive concept space was detected near Mount Hyono. No traces or wreckage of the plane have been found in the real world. It has likely been brought into the concept space.”

Sayama looked at his watch. It was 7:12 PM.

“What progress has been made in responding to this?”

“Tes. A letter claiming responsibility along with a commemorative photograph was received from 1st-Gear’s City faction. UCAT at IAI HQ is currently engaging a 1st-Gear advance unit while searching for the holy sword Gram. Team Leviathan’s supervisor, Ooshiro Itaru, has announced this will be used to truly begin the Leviathan Road.”

“I see. Then…is there anything I can do?”

“You have yet to accept the negotiation rights for the Leviathan Road. However, it has been determined that the issues with 1st-Gear will be decided in this battle. If you do not take part, we will view you as having abandoned your negotiation rights.”

“…”

“Please come to Akigawa City Central Park by 19:30. We will send a helicopter to pick you up.”

“And if I do not go?”

“We will cut off all connections with you, Sayama-sama.”

Sibyl then said the same thing she had said at the beginning of the conversation.

“Is that okay?”

“I cannot say Testament quite yet,” replied Sayama.

“Tes. A testament or contract is a great promise made by a master with a sword.<ref>The Japanese word for contract is written with the kanji 約 which means promise and the kanji 契 which can be broken down into the kanji for great (大), the kanji for master (主), and the kanji for sword (刀).</ref> It is a word used when you are aware of the power you hold and wish to confirm to the world who you are. You do not have much time, but I pray you can make your decision with no regrets. Goodbye.”

The call came to an end.

Sayama moved the cell phone from his ear and sighed.

He looked up at the school building that was colored a dark blue by the night. He then looked up into the night sky.

Baku fell from his head and to his shoulder and then looked up just as he was doing. They looked up into the sky where the moon floated.

''I need to decide,'' thought Sayama.

The moon shone white in the night sky and the stars and wind filled everything else.

Below all that, dark blue rectangular school buildings cut off the sky to the left and right.

Only a small section of the sky was visible from here.

“…”

If he lowered his gaze just a bit, he would see the emergency staircase on the side of the second year general school building.

Sayama thought as he looked down at that shadow cutting off the sky and at the small emergency staircase landing sticking out from it.

He wondered if the sky would look larger from that staircase.

…''It would not change.

He would only be changing his location as he looked at it. He would not be leaving the boundaries of the school building.

In the end, he had never chosen anything more than that.

“Is that…?”

Was that the answer to it all? He had been unable to hold any confidence or pride in his own actions and he had been unable to lead anyone deeply into the battlefield. And that was why he had never been able to get serious. He had settled for a small place.

That was what he had been doing all this time.

''I really am timid,'' thought Sayama.

However, that would solve everything. It was a small world and he could not afford to lose it.

That was the correct way of thinking.

And he was wrong.

That was all there was to it.

He had to decide. If he took Shinjou’s bag once more and returned to the dorm room with him, it would all be over.

Sayama hung his head down and looked to the ground.

And as he did, he realized something.

He realized his thinking was immature.

What had sent Sayama’s thoughts racing was down at his feet. His gaze that had fallen in resignation and what he saw there was the ground trapped between two school buildings. Or so it should have been. However…

“That is not what this is…”

Below his eyes and atop the gravel was something connected to the sky and the light that he had looked up at before. Something closely connected to that boxed off world of the heavens was falling at his feet.

It was a shadow.

“…”

The pale light of the moon sent his shadow atop the gravel.

And the surrounding school buildings also struck the ground with their own shadows at heights to match.

From here, the sky was boxed off.

But it was not closed off. It was connected to the ground at his feet.

“…”

Sayama looked back up into the heavens. He looked into that sky filled with pale light.

And he stepped on the ground at his feet. He stepped on that ground that was covered in shadows because it was connected to the sky.

There was light above his head and shadows below his feet.

The shadows of the night were nothing other than the opposite of the light of the night.

And as he began to close his eyes, he felt something else that connected the sky to the earth.

The wind.

It came suddenly.

“…Kh!”

He heard a roar and felt the cold air striking him.

That movement of air surrounded him. He heard it brushing across his ears.

This powerful and solid wind did not come from the west, the east, the south, or even the north.

It came from above.

“!”

This wind blew by at a high altitude, struck the wall of the school building, and dropped down.

He had no idea where this wind came from, but it danced around them and he heard a slight voice.

“Kyah!”

That light voice of surprise led Sayama to reach out a hand.

He reached out toward Shinjou who held his paper bag. Sayama pulled that body toward him and embraced him to protect him from the wind.

As the wind danced and dispersed, Sayama felt slender shoulders and a thin back. He felt Shinjou’s body temperature in his arms and the word “warm” came to his mind.

Shinjou suddenly went limp in his arms. The paper bag in Shinjou’s arms slipped and fell.

The gravel crunched as the bag fell. Shinjou sank into his arms and into his chest.

The wind died down and disappeared. A voice took its place.

“You’re going to decide…aren’t you?”

Sayama realized Shinjou was looking up at him. Shinjou’s hair was bound, but the wind had wrapped a few strands around Sayama’s arms. Shinjou’s black eyes stared directly at him.

Shinjou opened his mouth and reworded his previous statement.

“You’re on your way to decide, aren’t you?”

As Shinjou asked, his face shined in the moonlight. His face looked a pale white and his eyes looked blue.

Sayama met Shinjou’s gaze. He nodded and opened his mouth.

“Shinjou-kun,” he said. He spoke to the person who was as close to him as anyone ever had been. “I…” He hesitated. “I will likely get someone else involved with what I do.”

“Is that what has bothered you? Is that what you have been afraid of?”

Sayama nodded.

“Yes. I have been thinking about that. This person is important to me, but I am not sure they can handle the danger.”

“Sayama-kun, what do you think of this person?”

“They are important to me. As important as I am to myself.”

“I see,” said Shinjou with a sigh. He closed his eyes slightly and said, “Sayama-kun…You act like an evil person, but you are not.”

“Then what am I?”

“Well,” said Shinjou with a small nod.

The ends of his eyebrows lowered, but a smile could be seen on his lips.

His eyes narrowed and he raised his head to look Sayama in the eye.

“You are the villain. You merely play the role of the evil person.” He took a breath. “If you were a truly evil person, you would not hesitate to get others involved. But you do not do that.” He moved his lips once and then continued. “You are a welcome person to have around, Sayama-kun.” He nodded. “And I am sure the person you care so much for has realized that. I think that is why they tried to stop you. …But it is okay if you are a bit selfish when it comes to that person. Not as a villain, but as yourself.”

“I see,” said Sayama with a nod.

He removed his arms and released Shinjou.

Shinjou smiled bitterly while still lightly embracing his own body.

“C’mon… I am a boy, you know?”

“So am I.”

Shinjou’s shoulders drooped when he heard that.

“Which one did you want just now?”

“Some questions are best left unanswered, Shinjou-kun.” Sayama smiled and turned his back on Shinjou. “I will be going. And I will try to return as soon as I can.”

“Can I ask where you’re going?”

“Would you accept ‘where I must go’ as an answer?”

“Yes,” said Shinjou. He lightly raised a hand. “Do your best.”

Sayama nodded and ran off with Baku on his shoulder. Even as he left the school, he continued stepping on his own shadow.

Brunhild heard a series of footsteps through the darkness.

Her vision was closed off. All she could hear was a group of footsteps moving at a set tempo.

Her butt and legs felt the dampness of mossy dirt, her back felt the hardness of a cedar tree trunk, her arms felt the weight of a metal scythe’s blade and handle, and her cheeks felt a soft, damp sensation.

“…”

She opened her eyes and saw a color of darkness different from that of the inside of her eyelids.

She quickly grew accustomed to this new darkness.

She was in a forest. Trees made disorderly lines along a slope. She sat on a low cliff atop the slope.

She had been napping while leaning against a tree.

“You woke me, didn’t you?”

A small black form stood next to her face.

It was a black cat. Its eyes alone shined yellow in the darkness. They informed her of the cat’s location and expression.

“Brunhild, everyone has begun to move.”

She sat up and looked down. She looked down to the forest on the shallow slope a few meters below. Many, many dark figures were walking through that forest. They were all headed in the same direction: east.

Some of them had human forms. Some did not. Some had wings, some looked human but were too large to be, and some looked like dragons.

“This…isn’t everyone. The others are gathering with the vanguard that went in first.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that… So have they found Gram?”

“It apparently fell to the east inside the concept space that Venerable Hagen set up. As did the mechanism for making it invisible. All of it was read in while the concept space was being created.”

“I see,” said the cat as it watched Brunhild sit all the way up and wrap her arms around her knees.

“A concept analysis is being carried out based on the records created from Venerable Hagen reading in the transport plane. Once that is complete, we should know what concepts are being used to hide Gram. I just hope the search team has not passed it by already.”

“So everyone is really motivated, but they’re all just heading randomly in a general direction?”

“Don’t say it like that. There is nothing wrong with advancing an army as long as it lets us acquire Gram.” Brunhild nodded. “We will eliminate UCAT when they arrive. I assume Fafner and the others have already begun fighting.”

“Yes, I saw that. …He seemed really excited.”

Brunhild sighed. She watched everyone marching by below and then looked up into the sky.

She saw the moon there. She saw the light there.

“That light is in the way,” she muttered.

Having that light there during the night created shadows that were different from darkness and made it more difficult to know one’s surroundings.

“Darkness should be nothing more than darkness.”

“I wonder if Siegfried will come,” said the black cat suddenly.

“It doesn’t matter. We have already done what we had to do,” said Brunhild as she embraced Requiem Sense in her arms.

She looked up at the moonlight, but was unable to bring an end to that light.

Sayama ran below the moonlight.

His footsteps reverberated throughout Akigawa City Central Park located on the southern end of Taka-Akita Academy’s grounds. That central park was located on Itsukaichi Road which connected the academy grounds with the outside world. The park also contained a track-and-field stadium.

If a helicopter was landing, it would be there.

Sayama ran through the park which was surrounded by trees, kicked off the red brick ground, and made his way to the stadium.

He could see his footing thanks to the moonlight and the outdoor lighting. His footsteps and breathing expressed all of his actions.

He hurried.

His watch said it was 7:28 PM. He was already at his destination, so running any further would be pointless.

And yet he hurried.

He arrived at the stadium’s seats. He made his way out from the shadows of the trees, ran between the lines of seats, and leaped onto the track with a single footstep. He landed with a soft sound and found himself surrounded by red clay and white lines. In the center was a grassy opening.

''I made it,'' thought Sayama.

And…

“I have to go,” he muttered before walking instead of running.

He walked toward the center of the stadium.

Strength entered his right arm. Pain entered his left. But…

…''I can move it.

That was good enough. He used both his hands freely for the first time in a while. Sayama placed Baku in his vest’s breast pocket and grabbed his coat collar with both hands while continuing to walk.

After forcefully raising his hands he swung them to the left and right. The material of the sleeves stretched and created a sound similar to striking a piece of paper.

After fixing his disheveled clothing and creating that clear noise, he lowered his arms to his sides.

Sayama’s leather shoes created loud footsteps as he walked through the gentle wind. He headed for the center of the stadium. He headed for the very center which was lit up in four directions by outdoor lights.

Sayama looked at his destination. A single person stood there.

It was a tall old man. He had a bald head and a white beard. He wore his usual black vest, black trousers, and a black coat.

Sayama spoke as he approached that man whose black clothing was fluttering in the wind.

“Good evening, Sorcerer Siegfried Zonburg.”

Siegfried nodded as his name was called.

And he looked up into the sky. Sayama followed his gaze up.

A shadow could be seen flying toward them in the white moon floating in the heavens.

That dark, long, and narrow form was the shadow of a helicopter.

Wind blew down from above and an intermittent noise reverberated throughout the stadium.

The wind and noise danced about, tore up the surrounding grass, and caused that grass to fly about like horizontal rain.

Amid that, Siegfried opened his mouth. He spoke in a clear tone.

“Welcome to the place you have chosen, Sayama Mikoto.”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Chapter_22|Chapter 22]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Chapter_24|Chapter 24]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 21

2016-01-16T03:22:39Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 21: The Path to Relief */ consistency edit

==Chapter 21: The Path to Relief==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0203.png|thumb]]
''When one steps off that path

''Pain appears before one’s eyes

''So what happens if one wishes for pain?

Sayama returned to the school and walked to the Kinugasa Library.

He took a seat at a table near the counter, opened a book, and read through it.

He placed one side of the book on the table and flipped through the pages with only his right arm. It was the first volume of the mythology research books written by Kinugasa Tenkyou. He was reading the portion related to the Nibelungen epic poem.

The old letterpress printing style caused the pictures to bleed through the pages, but it was easy enough to make out the writing.

The Nibelungen was a European epic primarily passed down in Germany that was based on the Norse legend known as the Volsunga Saga.

“According to the saga, a young man named Sigurd trained under a man named Regin and slayed a dragon named Fafnir with the holy sword Gram he was given. When he drank some of Fafnir’s blood, he became able to hear the voices of animals. The birds informed him that Regin planned to kill him to take the honor for himself.”

He flipped the page.

“After killing Regin, Sigurd fell in love with a woman named Brynhildr, but he was made to forget her with magic and he instead chose a woman named Gudrun. However, Brynhildr resented him when she found out and decided to destroy them all.”

As Sayama closed the book, another voice continued the story.

“In the saga, Sigurd was killed by an assassin in his sleep, but in the epic poem, he died after being stabbed through the heart from the spot on the left of his back that had not been covered in Fafnir’s blood due to a leaf falling there.”

Those words were spoken by the tall man holding a paper cup behind the counter.

Sayama turned toward him and asked, “This has a few terms in common with reality. …Have you ever noticed that? In German, Sigurd has the name Siegfried. And Gudrun is Gutrune. …Has anyone else checked on those terms in common?”

“No, they have not.”

“I see.” Sayama tapped the spine of the hardcover book. “I suppose that would also be the answer if there was no need to check.”

The slight tapping noise caused Baku to raise his head and emulate it by tapping Sayama’s shoulder. Sayama smiled bitterly.

“What does it feel like to be hated?”

Siegfried took a sip from his cup before answering.

“The one saving grace is that all that enmity will end when I die. I have been targeted a few times in the past, but they were not ideal, so I did not die.”

“Hah. You have quite the troublesome death wish. …So what kind of death do you want?”

“Being killed by someone I betrayed and still hates me would simply be too horrible for me to accept. That would be identical to Sigurd’s death.”

Siegfried placed his cup on the counter and laughed at the hard sound of the paper.

“Sayama Mikoto, give this thought. Give this serious thought. Being hated will be inevitable. The question is how small you can make that grudge and who it is that will understand you.”

“And did you fail on both counts?”

Siegfried remained silent, so Sayama sighed.

“What a troublesome idea. Being an adult really is troublesome. You knew something like this could be waiting for you, so why?”

Sayama turned toward Siegfried. And he slowly spoke as if to himself.

“Why did you get involved in the Concept War?”

In the center of Sayama’s vision, the old man stared directly back at him and did not move.

Sayama waited. He waited for his words to vanish from the air of that library.

And once everything had returned to silence, his answer came.

“That was after I had managed to escape fighting in World War Two. I knew all too well that I would lose something if I fought. I did not want any more war. However…”

Siegfried trailed off, but he did not stop. He shook his head and continued.

“Everyone has their own reason for fighting. There is no meaning in me telling you mine. No matter how many ideals they hold, a human will die from a single bullet. When you see that truth before your eyes, you will see what your true motives are.”

“You mean I will see what is worth risking losing my life to a single bullet?”

Siegfried nodded.

“I will not tell you not to fear death. But do not look back. If you want to remain an idealist, do not step onto the battlefield. And if you do step onto the battlefield, do not die. Do you understand what I mean, at least somewhat? You have experienced the battlefield twice now due to our skirmishes with 1st-Gear. What did you think of the people there and of yourself?”

Sayama nodded, thought about the werewolf and the knight, and finally thought about Shinjou.

He kept in his heart the thought of her trembling yet still stepping onto the battlefield and then he tried to say something.

“…”

He was unable to say it.

However, he understood what he and she had in common. He understood what it was they both wanted.

“A battlefield on which we might die, hm?”

There was no doubting what they would find there.

Everything else was up to him. With that in mind, Sayama stood up.

“Thank you. You helped guide me in the right direction.”

He slid the book across the table and grabbed it in his right hand as it began to fall off the edge. His left arm was still not fully healed.

With the book hanging down from his right hand, Sayama walked toward the shelf of books by Kinugasa.

And as he did, he looked outside the narrow portion of window visible between the bookshelves.

The window showed the sun to the southwest and a figure jogging down the road toward the main entrance.

It was Shinjou Setsu. He had his hair bound behind his neck and he held a wash basin and a towel in front of his chest.

…''Is he visiting the public bath I told him about last night?

It was quite early for a bath. A glance at his watch told him it was 4:30 PM.

Just as he began to wonder why Shinjou would take a bath so early, a thought came to Sayama.

“Is he actually her?”

“Did you just say something rather odd?”

Sayama ignored the old man.

…''Is that why he is bathing while no one else will be around?

It was only a hypothesis. He would never find the answer if he did not check.

And that meant he had to go. He had to check once more whether Shinjou Setsu was actually Shinjou Sadame.

He made up his mind and began to move.

“…”

Sayama quickly returned the book to the bookshelf and took quick steps across the library.

His footsteps were loud and Siegfried frowned.

“Excuse me,” said Sayama with a wave of the arm.

Leaving the library and running back to the student dorm would take two minutes. If he chased after Shinjou, he would arrive just as the boy was entering the bathtub. He would be able to catch him in the act.

Sayama would be victorious. With that in mind, he opened the library door. But then…

“Oh.”

He brought himself to a stop.

Someone stood directly in front of him. A small figure stood beyond the opened door in the hallway filled with the light of the setting sun.

A black cat stood at the person’s feet. It was a girl holding a cardboard box with a small bird inside.

Siegfried called her name from behind Sayama.

“Brunhild-kun.”

Brunhild watched Sayama Mikoto rush past her. He was nonsensically muttering “bath” over and over, so it did not seem related to 1st-Gear.

Brunhild took a step forward as she listened to those fading footsteps.

As she did, Siegfried stepped out from behind the counter. He moved quickly and with long strides. It only took him five steps.

“Do you have another problem with the bird?”

Brunhild expressionlessly shook her head. There was something she had to say.

…''Will I be able to say it this time?

Brunhild opened her mouth as she thought about the previous night. Her lips moved as she practiced the words.

The fact that she noticed that movement showed that her legs were not trembling and her body was not cowering.

And so Brunhild raised her head. Her hair waved, she created a face she thought of as expressionless, and she looked up at his blue eyes.

“I will be leaving until tomorrow morning, so please look after the bird.”

“This is quite sudden.”

It looked as if Siegfried’s eyes had widened slightly.

However, he was not refusing or rebuking her. She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and held out the arms holding the box.

“Yes, but…take care of it.” Her head drooped down even further. “Please. You only need to look after it until tomorrow morning.”

She raised her head. She made sure her movements did not cause her to draw back the box.

As she looked at him, Siegfried finally nodded.

“Tomorrow morning, you said?”

“Yes. I will be back by then.”

“I see.”

Siegfried nodded once more and took the box.

Brunhild almost breathed a sigh of relief, but she resisted.

Without changing her expression, she looked at the bird in the box. It tilted its head as it looked back up at her. Siegfried took the box and the bird must have been afraid to leave her because it spread it wings.

And it flapped them.

“…”

However, it could not fly. It fell over, stood back up, and looked up at her again.

Brunhild spoke to the bird.

“Don’t worry. He understands the language of birds.”

As soon as she said that, Brunhild heard a quiet laugh. She looked up at Siegfried’s face, but his expression was the same as ever.

“Is something the matter?”

“N-no. It is nothing. …Thank you for helping.”

With that quick comment Brunhild turned around.

After the third step, she heard the library door close behind her and the chirping of the bird grew more distant.

She passed through the central lobby and headed for the art room. The black cat sighed down at her feet.

“You managed to say the words you had prepared.”

“Yes. I wonder why.”

“Because this is something you knew was important.”

“Really?” she asked before having a thought.

If what the cat said was true, was it the bird or the man she had found to be important?

A shopping district had been built just outside the main entrance of the school.

In it was a 24-hour public bath named Eternal Sunflower.

It was an old-looking facility made of concrete and with a tiled roof, but it stood out because of the large greenhouse with a metal framework to the south. Tropical plants and out of season sunflowers were visible in that three-story structure.

The curtains labeling the men’s bath and the women’s bath had a sunflower mark printed on them.

“The 24-hour public bath named Eternal Sunflower uses underground pipes to use the heat of the school’s boiler facility. It has a few sister facilities outside the school, but this is the one I told Shinjou-kun about last night.”

Sayama passed by the attendant booth, greeted the old woman who worked as the attendant during the day, and put a 100 yen coin in the ticket machine.

He took the card-style locker key the ticket machine gave him and he moved Baku from his shoulder to his head. He removed his clothes in the changing area, placed them in a locker, and draped a towel over his shoulder.

He removed the bandages from his left arm, making the charm covering the wound visible. It had shown no sign of growing damp during his shower the day before, so Sayama assumed it held some sort of power.

He locked the locker and his preparations were complete.

Just to check, he weighed himself at the scale. His weight was the same as the day before.

Everything was going well. All that was left was to head into the bath with nothing but his towel. Using the public bath’s wash basins was the stylish thing to do. And opening the bath door with both hands was the Sayama style.

“Here I go,” said Sayama as he took the first step inside.

The steam-filled bath was large. Four square bathtubs that were 10 meters across were lined up to the left and right and washing areas were prepared along the walls.

As he walked down the center area between the bathtubs, his footsteps sounded quietly on the cooled bathwater below.

Sayama searched for his target in his vision that was obscured by the color white.

And he spotted that target. He was in the farthest bathtub on Sayama’s left. Sayama had spotted the color black on the closest corner of that tub.

That color was the color of hair.

Sayama walked in that direction as if cutting through the steam.

As he approached, he saw slender shoulders and black hair dropping into the wash basin sitting outside the bathtub.

That back was submerged up to the bottom of the shoulders, but it was definitely Shinjou’s.

…''He should submerge himself up to the neck.

After deciding he needed to give Shinjou that advice, Sayama began thinking about how to make his approach.

From the boy’s reaction at their first meeting, Shinjou Setsu seemed to be needlessly wary.

Sayama needed to approach him in a way that lowered his guard.

He considered showing unpredictability by leaping into the bathtub or showing open-heartedness by stepping over Shinjou’s head, but he concluded a safer option would be better.

Even as he thought, Sayama continued to approach and observe. He could see the side of Shinjou’s face as he soaked in the tub. His eyes were closed and his expression was relaxed. His body that Sayama was so curious about was sitting on one of the steps on the inside of the tub and his arms were embracing himself.

His arms and the towel worn within the tub hid that body.

…''He is wearing the towel inside the bathtub?

Shinjou’s action made Sayama feel a bit dizzy, but he endured. He could not put Shinjou on guard. However, it was true he could check on his body if the towel were not there. He had to eliminate that trap.

What came first was the boy’s wariness. If Sayama could eliminate that, the rest would be easy.

Sayama silently got down on his knees behind that back soaking in the bathtub. He picked up a nearby wash basin and spoke in order to lower Shinjou’s guard.

“Sir, would you like me to wash your back?”

Shinjou turned around in shock and…

“W-waaah!!”

He let out a scream and fell full force into the bathtub.

A splash and steam filled the air and his long hair was dragged into the tub.

Sayama climbed over the edge of the tub and placed his legs in the waves of hot water, but he remained on his knees.

“What a noisy child. You must not swim in the bath tub.”

“Wh-why are you talking about my back all of a sudden!?”

“I merely wish to wash your back. There is no need to be suspicious.”

“That’s plenty suspicious!!”

''There is no reasoning with this person,'' thought Sayama as he brought a hand to his forehead.

Shinjou stood while hiding his body with his towel and then remained motionless. Through the steam, Sayama could see Shinjou’s eyebrows raised.

“Why are you so suspicious?”

“This has nothing to do with suspicion. …Did you even stop to think what the people who see this might think!?”

Shinjou pointed toward the washing areas along the wall. Soaking at the edge of the bathtub with his arms spread was…

“Oh, it’s Izumo.”

“Hey,” said Izumo as he raised a hand in greeting.

Sayama nodded and said, “Do not worry, Shinjou-kun. That is not a person, so his opinion does not count.”

“Sayama, you idiot, have you ever seen my chromosomes?”

“I can tell without looking. You clearly have about two more than a human.”

“Really? I must be pretty great to have more than a human.”

“Um… Don’t chimpanzees have two more chromosomes than humans?” commented Shinjou.

“What? Screw you, Sayama… You… You’re pretty smart, you idiot.”

“This does not matter, so calm down.”

Izumo had begun to stand up, but he sank back down and let out a breath. He looked back and forth between Sayama and Shinjou.

“I don’t know what the confusion is about, Sayama, but you need to wash yourself before entering the bathtub. That is one of the five rules of Eternal Sunflower.”

Sayama nodded and looked toward Shinjou. He stood in the center of the bathtub.

“Why do you look so angry?” asked Sayama.

“B-because, well…”

“I do not believe I have done anything to you yet.”

“How about you say his very existence is odd? And wait… What do you mean ‘yet’?”

Sayama ignored that suggestion from Izumo. At any rate, Shinjou would have no escape once Sayama washed himself.

He stood up and walked to the washing area. Behind him, he heard Shinjou walk through the tub and back to his previous spot. He could see it in the washing area’s mirror. Sayama sat in a seat placed in front of that mirror near Izumo. Before using the shower, Sayama filled a nearby wash basin with water a bit cooler than human skin and placed Baku inside.

Baku floated for a bit, but then sank without struggling.

Sayama pulled him out and placed his front legs on the edge of the wash basin. Baku seemed to be a nonresistant animal.

Sayama took a breath, untangled his swept back hair and ran his hands through it.

“Izumo,” he said quietly.

“What is it, you idiot?”

“I have a question for you.”

“Oh? What lowly question do you have from someone as great as me?”

Sayama nodded and began rubbing the provided soap on his skin.

“How was Shinjou-kun’s body?”

Sayama saw Izumo turn toward him in the mirror. He nodded once with a serious expression.

“Here is my opinion on this matter: you are insane. Well? Do you get it? If not, let me put it more simply. You. Are. An. Idiot. Well? Get it now?”

“I see you still have no reservations about saying hurtful things. Go to hell, you son of a bitch.” Sayama took a breath and stared straight at Izumo through the mirror. “I am not joking about this. I am completely serious. …How was Shinjou-kun’s body?”

In the mirror, Izumo’s face darkened, his expression clouded over, and he averted his gaze.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize you were serious.”

“I am. As long as you understand.”

“Yeah, sorry. I would never have thought you were serious. I’m satisfied with Chisato.”

“I see. Then I suppose I asked you something you cannot answer. Is this where I should say, ‘die, you useless bastard’?”

“Is this where I should say, ‘get lost, you gay bastard’?”

Just as Sayama silently held the shower in his left hand and the valve for the hot water in his right, he heard a splash behind him.

He checked in the mirror and saw a back with long black hair trying to sneak out of the bathtub.

''You are not getting away,'' thought Sayama as he brushed up his hair once, turned around, lowered his hips, and dashed.

“Wait just a second!”

As he ran, he saw Shinjou try to turn around.

He could not let Shinjou prepare. Making sure Shinjou did not notice took top priority.

To escape Shinjou’s sight, Sayama dropped to his knees on the wet tile floor.

He slid on his knees through the puddles of water.

As his sliding produced a wet noise, he saw Shinjou’s eyes cut across horizontally as if he had lost sight of something.

In the next moment, he grabbed hold of Shinjou’s waist.

That backwards-turned naked body gave a start when Sayama’s hands grabbed onto its waist.

Shinjou looked down at Sayama from above. He had to twist his shoulders and neck around to do so.

“Wh-what are you doing, Sayama-kun!?”

While sitting on his knees, Sayama held onto Shinjou as he tried to twist his body around and escape.

“Calm down.”

“Wh-what!? I don’t understand what you mean!”

“You do not understand? I am saying to remain relaxed and tranquil while not panicking.”

“That isn’t what I meant!!” shouted Shinjou, but he stopped trying to escape. He blushed and asked, “Wh-what is it? If you need something, just tell me already!”

“There is something I must see. It is not something you can simply tell me. And… It is an important matter for you.”

“Important?’ Shinjou frowned and averted his gaze. Finally, he said, “Y-you aren’t going to do some other strange thing to me, are you?”

“Of course not. When have I ever done anything strange to you?”

“U-um, Sayama-kun? …Please look either to your right or left.”

Sayama chose left. He looked over and saw himself and Shinjou in a mirror in a washing area.

He was sitting on his knees and he had his arms wrapped around Shinjou’s butt.

It was nothing more than one step in the process of determining if Shinjou was a girl or not.

“I see nothing strange there,” he commented.

Shinjou hung his head down with a look of realization.

“Oh, I get it now. Strange people do not realize how strange they are.”

“Such a sad story.”

“I’m talking about you!!”

“It seems you have a persecution complex. ...At any rate, please stay still.”

“Uuh…” groaned Shinjou.

Sayama lowered his head and looked forward.

There he found a butt. The two round humps were sticking out toward him a bit because of how he was holding on to Shinjou. Water droplets from the bath could be seen on it. His body line extending up and down to his waist and thighs swelled out.

''It is very round,'' thought Sayama. ''How magnificent.

He squeezed with his hands a bit and those round humps distorted softly. The water droplets that had collected between the flesh made their way around and dripped down. Seeing that, Sayama gave a mental sigh of admiration.

…''How erotic,'' he thought earnestly.

But as soon as he realized what he had thought, he shook his head.

He needed to see if Shinjou was female or not. This was no time to be holding a viewing of Shinjou’s ass. However…

“How can I sum up this beauty in a single word?”

It was round and erotic. Sayama thought for a moment, let out a breath, and expressed it in a single world.

“Eroundic.”

“Wh-what? What did you just say!?”

“I merely found a new expression is all. Do not worry about it.”

Sayama realized he could not determine Shinjou’s sex from the butt. That was obvious. And so he spoke.

“Now, let us do this. Turn toward me, Shinjou-kun.”

“U-u-um, Sayama-kun? Do you know what you’re saying? And what do you mean ‘do this’?”

“It is too late to ask questions! This is important!” shouted Sayama.

All strength left Shinjou’s body. Sayama looked up and saw the ends of his eyebrows drooping.

“D-do I really…have to turn toward you?”

“Yes. There is something I cannot know otherwise.”

“…”

Shinjou averted his gaze without speaking and Sayama loosened his grip on Shinjou’s butt.

Shinjou slowly turned toward him. He stood with his knees together, but Sayama showed no kindness.

“Why are you acting so embarrassed? Move that towel and your arms.”

“D-do I really have to show you? Th-this isn’t right. You’re going to do something strange, aren’t you?’

“How many times do I have to tell you? This is important for you, Shinjou-kun.”

“Really? Is it really important for the two of us? Is it really?”

Sayama stared silently back and Shinjou closed his eyes a bit. His cheeks reddened, he bit his lower lip, and his body stiffened.

[[Image:OnC_v02_0223.png|thumb]]

“Don’t do anything weird.”

Shinjou dropped the towel. The wet cloth softly struck the floor.

However, Shinjou was still using his hands to cover his chest and the area between his legs.

“Move your hands,” said Sayama.

Shinjou did not nod. However, he lifted his hands, let out a moan, and covered his face with those hands.

Sayama had watched the hands move up, but he now slowly lowered that gaze.

The eyes on that blushing face looked down at him through the gaps in the fingers.

His shoulders were drooping down and the chest between them was flat. It was the same chest Sayama had touched the day before.

Water droplets ran down his damp skin from the chest to his sides and navel. The water seemed to dissolve into his skin.

Sayama followed the falling water droplets with his gaze. He finally arrived at Shinjou’s crotch.

“Hm…”

“Wh-what does that mean? N-no. Don’t stare like that.”

“My apologies.”

Sayama had confirmed that Shinjou was a boy. The proof lay right before his eyes. It was certainly there.

Sayama had no more room for doubt and he felt a sense of loss at having his suspicions disappear.

Shinjou spoke from above in a trembling voice.

“A-are you done? You are, right? You’ve seen enough, right?”

Sayama started to agree, but then his thoughts ground to a halt.

…''Wait a second. I can clearly see it before my eyes, but…

What if this was some kind of trick?

He knew the level of technology UCAT had. They could easily pull something like this off.

If he was going to check, he had to do so thoroughly enough to have no doubts remaining.

However, Shinjou’s guard was currently raised. Asking for permission here would likely only be wasted time.

And so Sayama gently grabbed it.

The texture, the warmth, the weight, and the material all checked out. That left strength.

In what was more an examination than a confirmation, Sayama tugged downwards.

He tugged a total of three times, changing the direction slightly each time.

“Hm.”

But it did not come off. That meant it was not a trick.

He knew for sure now. There was no mistaking it. His suspicions finally vanished.

''Yes, this confirms it,'' thought Sayama as he raised his head.

He breathed a sigh of relief and his shoulders drooped. He looked Shinjou in the eye and a slight smile naturally formed on his lips. This was good news. He nodded and spoke.

“You can rest easy, Shinjou-kun. You are a boy.”

“I already knew that!!”

A slap arrived from below his field of vision as if the hand were scooping something up.

It struck Sayama’s jaw, his head rotated backwards, and he collapsed to the side.

The setting sun sank into the mountain range to the west.

In the city, the movements of that crimson light could only be seen from a high vantage point.

A pair of eyes followed that sinking sun from the rooftop of Taka-Akita Academy’s second year general school building. Those eyes were above the bell tower attached to the roof. A single figure sat there.

The figure wore black clothes and a three-cornered hat. That girl holding a broom with a giant scythe tied to it was Brunhild.

She looked toward the silhouette of the western mountain range outlined by the setting sun. She remained perfectly still, held her arms around her knees, and hid so those down below would be unable to see her.

A black cat sat next to her. The cat looked up at its unmoving owner and tilted its head.

While still looking to the west, Brunhild expressionlessly spoke.

“Don’t worry. I have already dealt with my problem.”

“Really?”

“Yes, this will tell me everything. If he arrives when we take back the holy sword Gram, it will mean he has abandoned the bird I left with him. I will know he has betrayed me.”

“And if he does not come?”

“Then I will forgive him,” said Brunhild while narrowing her eyes slightly. A small sigh escaped her lips. “But this question is a one-way issue. I will not return here. If we win, I will join the negotiations alongside Lord Hagen as a member of 1st-Gear. If we lose, I will die.”

“So you won’t be coming back.” The black cat’s head drooped. “Then I should confess something. I was the one that tore up the calendar in your room.”

“That is fine. It was provided by the school, so I forgive you.”

“Thanks. But I was also the one that destroyed the cup the school gave you.”

“I see… I quite liked that cup, but I will not be returning. I forgive you.”

“I also stained your pillow with drool and camouflaged it so it looked like you did it.”

“I see… So that’s what happened.”

“Also, I hid where I peed a bit under your blanket. That is why it has smelled recently.”

“…I see. So that’s what the smell was. If there is anything else, say it now. You will be freed from your pain.”

“Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by freed from my pain?”

“You will not have to feel anything ever again… Wait, don’t run away!”

When Brunhild began to stand, she saw the cityscape lit up by the setting sun.

“…”

She stopped moving and looked out in every direction. She saw houses, buildings, fields, small forests, and a mesh of roads.

That entire landscape did not realize she was here standing in the light wind.

For some reason, she frowned. The black cat turned toward her.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.” Brunhild reached out a hand and grabbed the cat. “Farewell, scenery. You are completely different from the forest I once lived in.”

With those words, Brunhild nodded and enacted her punishment.

Sayama and Izumo each drank a bottle of coffee milk on a bench in Eternal Sunflower’s meeting area. The wooden bench had faded red paint and it creaked under Izumo’s large body.

When Sayama saw he still had some milk left in his bottle, he placed it on its side next to him. He lowered Baku from his head, and the beast stuck its head in the sideways bottle and began licking up the remaining milk.

“That is a truly useless animal.”

“Apparently, it actually lives by watching and showing people’s pasts and dreams. It will eat anything you give it, though.”

“But what do you think, Sayama? Putting a hand on your hips when drinking coffee milk is the standard, but what about using both hands?”

With an outline of the bottle around his mouth, Izumo looked over his shoulder. Sayama followed his gaze and found the curtain for the women’s bath.

“Are you waiting for Kazami?”

“Did you even listen to my majestic comment?”

“I avoid doing things which have no value for my life.”

“I don’t see how those bizarre actions of yours in the bath have any value to your life.”

“They do. Now I will make no misunderstandings about Shinjou-kun.”

“I think you’ll be the one people have misunderstandings about now… That was a splendid concussion. There’s nothing harder to describe than a guy collapsed in the bath with his ass sticking out.”

“I have not received a blow that solid in quite a long time. I must have let my guard down.”

Izumo sighed when he heard that. He looked around and confirmed that no one else was nearby.

He placed his empty bottle on the ground and spoke.

“Speaking of valuable things, what are you going to do about the Leviathan Road?”

“You mean that scene of death?”

“Yes. You saw Chisato’s shot, right? And then the enemy killed himself. A situation like that might come to us next time.”

“Then why do you and Kazami take part?”

“I’m the son of IAI’s president…and there’s some other issues, too.” Izumo turned toward Sayama without a hint of a smile on his face. “We are prepared. But what about you? There’s nothing in your school life, but it’s better than dying, right?”

“That is true, but what do you think would happen if I did not agree to the Leviathan Road?”

“Our unit would be broken up. The adults would handle it. Our supervisor is Ooshiro Itaru, after all.”

“Ooshiro Itaru… Does he have that much power?”

“I don’t really know. Most members of Japanese UCAT died along with IAI’s relief team during the great Kansai earthquake at the end of 1995. From what I hear, they got wrapped up in a secondary disaster.”

“Is that what led to Japanese UCAT being temporarily dissolved? I heard about that from Fasolt.”

“Yeah. After that, it seems only the upper levels and Ooshiro Itaru were left. In fact, it seems he’s the only middle-generation member of Japanese UCAT left.”

“That’s a lot of ‘it seems’… I thought you were the heir to the Izumo company?”

“Sorry, but I wasn’t here at that time,” said Izumo as he folded his arms. He groaned, looked up, looked down, and tilted his head. “The thing is, I… Okay, I’ll just say it. I’m a troublesome kid who was born to my Low-Gear father and a 10th-Gear girl.”

“Is that so? What a surprise. Truly unexpected.”

“Don’t dismiss my important announcement like it’s nothing…”

“It does not benefit me in any way. And being of mixed race is very common these days.”

“Ha ha. I guess someone with a troublesome family of his own would think that way. But let me tell you something else: even if you do not accept the Leviathan Road, Kazami and I will be part of Team Leviathan with Ooshiro Itaru as the negotiator.”

“Why? You make it sound like you cannot refuse.”

“We can’t,” said Izumo. “Our weapons are concept weapons we acquired during the commotion when I arrived two years ago. My V-Sw is 6th’s Vajra and Vritra. Kazami’s G-Sp2 is 10th’s Gungnir.”

Sayama recalled Izumo’s large single-edged sword and Kazami’s long single-edged spear.

“Both give the Concept Core a cowling in the form of a weapon. The very existence of a concept weapon is a concept, so it creates its own field and its power can be used under the effects of any concept. Also, our weapons have much greater power than the normal philosopher’s stone method because they use Concept Cores. Their users have to see things through to the end.”

“And both of the weapons have accepted you as their masters?”

“Yeah. They both have wills of their own. We obtained them during the commotion two years ago, so 6th has fully aligned with UCAT and 10th has mostly joined UCAT. At the very least, the Leviathan Road for 6th- and 10th-Gears are already over.” Izumo gave a bitter grin. “Those concept weapons really will come flying to you if you call for them.”

“That is quite the bizarre phenomenon.”

“Ha ha ha. You don’t believe me do you, you dumb bastard?”

“Ha ha ha. Try not to speak your nonsense aloud, you son of a bitch.”

The two of them both let out a sigh. Sayama brought a hand to his chin and spoke.

“So the Leviathan Road will continue without me. With you, Kazami, and Ooshiro Itaru.”

“Yeah. I heard your grandfather’s blood pressure shot up when he heard about my irregular commotion resolving some of the negotiations. I think his will included some method of dealing with this if you refused, but UCAT probably had some other reason for approving it.”

“Two years ago was when my grandfather was talking about my entrance exam. He was being particularly hard to please. Now I know why.”

“But Shinjou is different from Kazami and me. If you refuse your right to the Leviathan Road, she will likely be removed from the unit. Ooshiro Itaru and the higher ups are always extra nice when it comes to Shinjou.”

Sayama frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“They don’t get serious when it comes to her. Or at least it seems that way to me. She was put in the unit on the recommendation of old man Ooshiro, but it looks like Ooshiro Itaru wants to distance her from it all. Also,” said Izumo. “Ooshiro Itaru seems to hate you for some reason.”

“I learned that well enough from how he acted yesterday.”

Sayama nodded and heard a solid sound from next to him. He looked over and found Baku had tried to remove his head from the bottle but could not. As Baku frantically spun his back legs around fruitlessly, Sayama grabbed the beast and pulled him out like a cork.

Meanwhile, he heard Izumo speaking.

“Anyway, try to stay on good terms with Shinjou Setsu. You might not understand, but normal people will let their guard down if you show some concern about them.”

“Thank you very much for the advice,” said Sayama with a bitter smile. He grabbed the empty bottle, placed it in the case next to the bench, and turned his back to Izumo. “I will do my best to stay on good terms with him. Say hello to Kazami for me.”

Izumo sighed after Sayama left. He leaned against the back of the bench and called out the name Chisato.

The curtain for the women’s bath split open and Kazami’s head poked out. He watched her look back and forth.

“What are you avoiding him for? Don’t we need to show him how strict we are as current members of the Leviathan Road?”

“Yeah…but it was just too sudden.”

“What a complicated girl,” muttered Izumo as Kazami walked over and sat next to him.

Izumo frowned when he saw what she was holding.

“What are you drinking?”

“Tomato juice. I need to replenish my iron after taking a bath. I am a girl after all.”

“I didn’t think my Chisato was the kind of girl to discriminate based on sex…”

“C’mon. Stop hanging your head down with such a forced expression. Is it that important that I drink milk?”

“If you don’t drink milk, your breasts won’t grow.”

“They’re big enough already!”

“Really?” Izumo tilted his head, lightly grabbed at thin air with both hands, and tilted his head again. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m not sure I want you agreeing with that…” Kazami opened the pull tab, took a sip, and looked up into the sky. “But this is a difficult issue…”

“What is? Your breast size? Yeah, I suppose it is... What?”

“That isn’t what I meant, you idiot. …I was referring to all of this going on.”

As she said that, someone else exited from the women’s bath. Izumo turned around.

“Oh, it’s Ooki-sensei,” he called out.

Ooki was wearing track pants and a T-shirt.

“Hi!” she called back to Izumo.

Suddenly, Kazami jabbed an elbow into Izumo’s side while she drank her tomato juice.

“?” thought Izumo as he looked over at Ooki. Once he saw what she held in her hand, he whispered to Kazami.

“A soda, hm? She’s gonna get fat.”

“And they can dissolve bones, too. She’s going to look pitiful when her teeth are falling out.”

“Wh-what kind of ominous things are you two saying!?”

Ooki groaned and stopped the two of them. She then drank the soda so they could see.

“Th-this is a flavor children wouldn’t understand.”

“Is that so?” said Kazami with her half-lidded eyes turned toward the ground. She then added, “But I don’t think you should say that while the carbonation is bringing tears to your eyes.”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Chapter_20|Chapter 20]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume2_Chapter_22|Chapter 22]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 12

2016-01-16T03:19:43Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 12: A Reunion with Someone New */ consistency edit

==Chapter 12: A Reunion with Someone New==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0335.png|thumb]]
''A meeting is the beginning of a restriction

''That is why meetings last only an instant

''The eternity continuing afterwards is a choice between that restriction and a parting

A square three-story building was located on the northeastern end of the general education buildings of Taka-Akita Academy.

The flat building was partially made of brick and had a terrace. The front of the building also had an entrance leading to the basement. That entrance was labeled with a placard saying “Central Cafeteria Building”.

Only the basement area was open during spring break.

A wide staircase led downstairs. The placard attached to the wall there said “Open 24 Hours a Day” in thick gothic lettering. “However, only limited services are available late at night and on holidays,” it went on to say.

Down the stairs were eight large glass doors lined up side by side and a dimly lit area beyond.

The lobby contained a line of cafeteria ticket machines and several large bulletin boards.

Past the lobby was a 50 meter square space with white walls. Square pillars were located at set intervals and tables for eight filled the space between them.

However, few people were inside. The shops in the corners had sheets over them and only the area around the counter across the eastern wall was lit up.

At the tables were a few people wearing personal clothes and school uniforms as well as a few people wearing the red shirts of rugby uniforms. In addition, a girl wearing a school uniform and a black cat were standing near the counter.

The girl whose gray hair flowed back behind her was Brunhild.

Brunhild placed her hands on the counter and stared back into the kitchen.

Finally, the item she was waiting for arrived.

An old woman wearing a cooking apron carried out a cardboard box 30 cm square.

The box had a dishcloth laid out on the bottom and sitting in the corner were two flat-bottomed porcelain bowls. One contained water and the other contained dried corn that had been crushed into relatively large pieces. The small bird hopped between the two bowls.

“This is a large burden you are taking on. But it is already mostly grown, so you should not have too much trouble,” said the old woman.

Before the woman could hold out the box, Brunhild bowed and reached her own hand out.

She placed the box in her hand.

“…”

Brunhild embraced the box.

The bird looked up at her from within the box. As it tilted its small head, Brunhild smiled.

She heard the old woman say, “How nostalgic. I caught one when I was a child, too.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, yes. Even an old lady like me was once as young as you.”

Brunhild fell silent, but the black cat at her feet lightly struck her left shin with its front paw.

Brunhild used her left foot to kick the cat away below the counter.

The old woman had not noticed this exchange of blows, so she looked down at the small bird and spoke.

“It was not long after the war. I swiped some of the wheat and sake my father got through the black market. I soaked the wheat grains and place them on the ground.”

“To give them…to the bird?”

“Yes, yes. I threw one a good distance away. Once it ate that, I threw another one a bit closer to me before repeating the process. By the time it was close enough to me, it could not fly.”

“Because it was drunk?”

“Yes. But it disappeared the day after I caught it. My father looked disappointed it was gone and he complained that the bird had looked delicious. …I knocked him down with a piece of firewood afterwards.”

Brunhild ignored the last half of the story and fell silent, but the black cat lightly struck her right shin once it made its way back.

She kicked it away with her right foot, looked slightly down, and glanced over at the cat.

It was looking up at her from where it lay on the floor.

But when their gazes met, the black cat cowered down and backed away.

Brunhild tilted her head and wondered if the look in her eyes had really been that harsh.

But she then sensed a presence behind her. This was why the cat had backed away.

“…!?”

She placed the box on the counter and turned around. A chest covered in a black vest lay directly in front of her eyes within arm’s reach.

Surprised, she took a step back and looked up to assess the situation.

Above the black vest was the collar of a white shirt. Above that was a white beard and bald head.

Brunhild knew this man.

Before she could do anything, a voice spoke beyond the counter.

“Oh, Zonburg-san. You are late today.”

Siegfried Zonburg stood beside Brunhild. He bent over his large body to place his cafeteria ticket on the opposite side of the counter.

The old woman looked at the ticket and asked, “Which one?”

“The Doria.”

“Oh, the vomit rice. Now, do I have any rice left?”

“Even if that is what everyone calls it, I think the one making it should avoid that name.”

“I can hardly call it Doria. I only learned how to cook from my mother.”

“Doria is a household dish. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Is that so?” asked the old woman with a laugh, but Siegfried’s expression did not change.

Brunhild looked up at him while holding her breath.

Suddenly, he turned toward her.

Brunhild took a defensive stance at that. She brought her right hand up into the air and her left hand into her blazer pocket. All expression vanished from her face and she stared intently at him.

However, Siegfried was not looking at her.

He was looking at the box on the counter. The small bird inside looked up at him and chirped once. Siegfried returned the bird’s gaze and opened his mouth to speak.

“Brunhild Schild-kun.”

Brunhild gasped at having her name called.

She gulped and asked, “Why do you know my name?”

“Whenever you borrow a book, you thank the library assistant but not me. I manage the library cards, so I naturally learned your name.”

“…You certainly are petty.”

“No, that is simply the reason I know your name. I am not demanding you thank me. That is the decision your pride has led you to make.” Siegfried looked back across the counter. “The library is open. The biology and animal section has some books on caring for animals. You should borrow one right away.”

“Is that an order?”

“I merely wish the best for the bird. …But I cannot approve of caring for a bird in the same environment as a cat.”

“Do not worry. My cat is loyal to me.”

That comment elicited a light strike against her calf from the black cat’s front paw. Brunhild swung her right heel back to kick the cat away before she grabbed the box.

Siegfried was not looking in her direction.

She took a step back to open a slight gap between them.

Siegfried provided a clear response to her silence.

He ignored her and let the silence continue.

“…”

Brunhild turned around toward the entrance.

She began walking and the black cat frantically ran after her.

She looked down into the box to find the small bird looking up at her with its head tilted.

Brunhild continued to look at the bird and did not look back.

She held her breath and quickly walked out of the cafeteria.

A line of white buildings existed to the north of the general school buildings. The buildings were aligned in a cross shape and they all looked like three-story school buildings at first.

However, the windows lined up on the southern side were smaller and more numerous than those of a school.

Through each window were two desks next to the window and a bunk bed next to the wall.

These were the student dorms.

The dorms were currently dyed in the colors of the setting sun.

A single figure could be seen moving between the crimson of the sunlight and the bluish-black shadows created by the buildings.

This was Sayama, still wearing his gray suit. He quickly made his way to the building on the southwest end of the line of dorms.

He arrived at a white walled entrance with a sign saying “Fourth General Education Dormitory – True Boys’ Dormitory”.

Sayama stopped at the entrance.

A look at his wristwatch told him the time was 5:30 PM. He had just returned after speaking with Ooshiro about the following day’s preliminary negotiations with 1st-Gear’s peaceful faction.

Sayama glanced down and saw Baku was sleeping with his head sticking out of his breast pocket. And…

“?”

Sayama suddenly turned to the east where the cafeteria building was. He had spotted some motion.

He could see a girl carrying a box toward the general school buildings.

…''That is the head of the art club I passed by this morning.

She must have still had work to do.

''She puts in a lot of effort,'' he thought as he took a breath. ''I need to visit Siegfried in the library and Izumo and Kazami in the girls’ dorm later.

He then turned back toward the dorm building and looked up at his own room on the eastern end of the second floor.

In the very next moment, his expression changed. He frowned.

“…The light is on?”

As the window reflected the setting sun, he could see the bright room beyond.

He did not remember turning on the lights before leaving for the Imperial Palace during the day.

''Who could it be?'' thought Sayama as he hurried into the dorm.

At the same moment, he heard Ooki’s voice from up ahead.

“Oh, Sayama-kun.”

She walked out of the exit in sandals while wearing a shirt and a tight denim skirt.

“Perfect timing.”

Ooki descended the low staircase at the entrance in a single step and arrived in front of Sayama with the sound of gravel.

“What is it, Ooki-sensei? I have urgent business at present, so I would like to hurry to the scene in question.”

“Heh heh heh. You always speak so formally. But you will regret it if you don’t listen to what I-…wait!”

As Sayama ignored her and tried to move past her, she grabbed his sleeve.

“Could you not grab onto that? It is actually rather expensive.”

“I think you should not decide what is important based on monetary value.”

“It is Italian and cost 720 thousand yen.”

“Wah! I’m sorry! Just so you know, I could never, ever pay for that!”

“I know. I think you should stop taking up a standard seat in front of the shop in the cafeteria building.”

“But I love jam bread. It’s so sad the shop is closed during spring break… Wait, please listen to what I have to say before leaving!”

This time, she grabbed Sayama’s hand. He sighed, turned toward Ooki, and nodded.

“I apologize, but I fear I will catch your poverty. Please keep your Ooki germs away from me.”

“If you say things like that, I won’t tell you that you have a new roommate!”

“If you say things like that, it makes me want to inform you of your severe idiocy.”

“Huh?” said Ooki as she thought back on what she had said.

Sayama politely removed her hand and asked, “At any rate, what is happening here? I obtained this single-person room thanks to a miracle when I had the wonderful luck of being chosen in the drawing.”

“I will not ask how you influenced that miracle and wonderful luck… Anyway, that miracle and wonderful luck end today. Just give up now.”

She pointed at Sayama as she spoke, but he ignored her. She immediately tugged on his hand.

“Why are you ignoring me!?”

“Well, you already told me what I need to know, right? A parasite has arrived,” said Sayama.

Ooki raised her index finger and lightly clicked her tongue.

“Listen. Let me warn you first. …Your new roommate is not used to you yet, so try not to do or say anything inappropriate.”

“Have you gone completely insane, Ooki-sensei? When have I ever done or said anything inappropriate?”

“You are doing so right now in real time!”

“Now, now,” said Sayama as he held out his right palm to calm down Ooki. “I understand what you are trying to say, so calm down. You want me to be perfectly polite, correct?”

“Yes,” nodded Ooki before crossing her arms. “That is what I want…but with you…”

She groaned and Sayama wordlessly flicked her on the forehead with his right hand.

Sayama checked in at the reception desk, changed into his slippers, and climbed the stairs.

Baku raised his head from Sayama’s breast pocket and climbed up to his shoulder. Baku must have known they were almost to the bed because he stared straight ahead from Sayama’s shoulder as they rounded the turn of the staircase.

Sayama quickly finished climbing the stairs. He moved from the landing to the hallway. His room was the last room on the left.

The fluorescent lights lit the hallway more than the setting sun. Sayama could tell the door to his room was sitting open.

A few cardboard boxes were sitting at the end of the hallway next to the door. Someone was moving in.

“…”

Sayama silently walked forward.

He could hear noise within the room. Someone was opening a cardboard box and removing its contents. He could hear someone piling up clothes and stacking books. These noises reminded Sayama of the past.

…''I made these exact same noises last year.

He approached.

He peered inside the dorm room through the open door.

As soon as he did, a figure took a step out of the room.

The figure had a slender and small build.

The figure stumbled forward between the boxes but managed to remain standing.

“Oh.”

Inertia caused a baggy shirt and culottes-style shorts to sway. And something else swayed even more than the clothes: the soft black hair tied behind the figure’s head.

The figure looked up and widened its eyes slightly.

Sayama recognized that face.

“…Shinjou-kun?” he asked.

“Ah,” said the figure.

The voice was identical to Shinjou’s as well.

That confused voice left Sayama thinking.

…''This is the boys’ dorm.

But his thoughts did not end there.

…''If Shinjou suddenly decided she desired a life with me, what would happen?

Shinjou belonged to UCAT. This school possessed deep connections with IAI, so it was likely connected to UCAT as well.

Sayama already had Izumo and Kazami as examples. He assumed those two were deeply involved in IAI and UCAT beyond what was officially said about them.

Also, UCAT had asked him if he would accept the rights to the Leviathan Road. Shinjou’s presence could be a means of leading him to accept.

''What should I do? What should I do?'' thought Sayama twice before adding, ''No, whatever the adults may be hoping to gain from this, the fact remains that Shinjou, a girl, has come here.

He recalled what she had said on the bridge in front of the Imperial Palace. She had told him not to be too surprised when he returned to his dorm.

…''That is impossible. I cannot help but be shocked at this.

When Sayama had asked her if she was sending him something, she had nodded and said she felt she had to.

How had he responded to that?

…''I told her I would gladly accept it. I see.

Sayama had reached his conclusion. He had already given his answer back then.

After coming this far, he did not hesitate or make the issue any more complicated. He had decided everything should continue as she wished.

With a serious expression, Sayama nodded toward her. He spread his arms lightly to either side.

“Now, leap into my arms.”

In response, Shinjou bowed with a relieved look.

“Thank you for acting just as inappropriately as I heard you would. I am Shinjou Sadame’s younger brother, Setsu.”

Sayama’s arms were still spread.

Shinjou Setsu raised his body while still smiling.

But Shinjou then said “Um…” while lowering the ends of his eyebrows and holding out his right hand.

With his arms still held out to the side, Sayama smoothly lowered his hips and rotated his body 90 degrees. He grabbed Shinjou’s right hand with the right hand he still held out to the side. He gave the boy a handshake.

That touch told him Shinjou had no ring on his right hand. Sayama stood back up.

“…Her younger brother?”

“Yes,” replied Shinjou with a less nervous voice and smile than before. “Didn’t my sister tell you? She told me to stay here until your arm healed, Sayama-kun.”

His voice and tone were identical to Shinjou’s. The feel of his hand was also identical.

Sayama mentally tilted his head and let go of the boy’s hand.

“How much did your sister tell you about me?”

“She said you protected her when she was almost hit by a car, but you injured your dominant arm in the process. She is busy with work, so she can’t do anything to help even though she wants to.”

“I see,” said Sayama in acknowledgment.

…''Does he not know about UCAT?

“I apologize in advance, but may I check on something?”

Shinjou tilted his head in confusion.

“Sure, I don’t mind. But what is it?”

“Oh, nothing much.”

Sayama stood before Shinjou, slowly pulled him closer, and touched the right side of his chest with his right hand.

“Eh? Ah…Wh-what are you doing?”

As the boy provided light resistance, Sayama felt only ribs and a thin chest.

Shinjou tried to pull away from the left hand lightly wrapped around his back.

But Sayama said, “Please do not move. For one, who was it that said he did not mind?”

“B-but I didn’t think you meant this…”

Shinjou’s shoulders lowered and he stopped trying to draw away.

Sayama nodded and slid his hand over to the left side of Shinjou’s chest. He pressed his fingers in as if trying to massage his chest, but the skin beyond the white shirt was thin and hard. It had little flexibility and lacked the shape of Shinjou’s breasts Sayama had seen the night before.

…''He is male.

Sayama’s body sank down slightly. He took his right hand off Shinjou’s chest and a slight moan escaped Shinjou’s lips. As if to rob Shinjou of this opportunity to relax, Sayama grabbed Shinjou’s waist with his right hand.

[[Image:OnC_v01_0351.png|thumb]]

“Ah,” said Shinjou as Sayama pressed his right ear against his chest.

Sayama heard the slightly quickened beating of Shinjou’s heart.

It sounded the same as what he had heard the night before. The slight sweet aroma in the breath was also the same.

However, the chest he had his ear pressed up against was not the same as the chest he had seen. It was the flat and hard chest of a guy.

Still doubtful, Sayama asked, “Hm… Has your chest always been like this?”

“W-well, yes…”

Sayama looked up to see a flushed face looking down at him. Shinjou was lightly biting his lower lip and bringing together his eyebrows. Finally, he let out a trembling sigh.

“I-is that enough? Are you done? I don’t want you st-staying down there too long.”

Without replying, Sayama grabbed Shinjou’s arm from where it hung awkwardly in the air and brought it around behind his back.

“Eh? Ah… No, Sayama-kun?”

As Shinjou lightly embraced him, Sayama listened to the boy’s pulse.

But nothing changed. The chest still felt like that of a guy. The pulse grew a bit stronger, but that was it.

“I see,” said Sayama with a nod before raising his head.

…''She said they are twins, didn’t she?

Sayama nodded once more in his heart, stood up, and faced forward.

Shinjou stood there with his cheeks red and the ends of his eyebrows lowered. Shinjou let out a breath and Sayama crossed his arms.

“Do not worry. There was nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Y-you were incredibly out of the ordinary, Sayama-kun.”

“Is that any way to act toward someone you just met?”

“You should say that into a mirror…”

“No need,” declared Sayama. “I was just given a warning by Ooki-sensei downstairs. And I am being careful to heed that warning.”

“…I have to ask. What was this warning?”

Sayama provided a clear response.

“Do not do or say anything inappropriate.”

“Wow,” said Shinjou as he drew back.

Nevertheless, Sayama held out his right hand.

“It may only be until my left arm heals, but let us get along, Shinjou-kun. It should not be too difficult. Compared to those around me, I am constantly troubled by how normal I am.”

In the art room at night, Brunhild gave the small bird food while working on her painting. She was adding the green of the forest to the canvas and would provide some food whenever the bird chirped to say it was hungry.

She would grab the crushed and threshed corn with narrow tweezers, soak it in water, and hold it out to the bird. If she did not lightly pinch the corn with the tweezers, the bird could not bring it into its mouth.

The black cat down at her feet spoke.

“You certainly are enthusiastic about this.”

“I have to do this at least until it goes to sleep.”

“I think you need to visit the headquarters tonight. What will you do?”

“It is not time for my periodic report, but yes… It would be best to ask how I should handle this from now on. If it was something simple, I could just have you fly there. But…”

The cat nodded.

“Most likely, they have already noticed the Royal Palace faction’s actions. The headquarters will be full of energy trying to decide what to do.”

“As long as the holy sword Gram is stored below IAI headquarters, there is nothing we can do. …Breaking in to take it is not the type of strategy Venerable Hagen prefers.”

“The second generation group who know nothing of war like Fafner are oddly motivated, though.”

The small bird chirped.

Brunhild fed it with the tweezers.

It swallowed the food and let out a breath. It tilted its head and looked up at Brunhild. She remained expressionless.

“…It’s so cute.”

“You don’t have to keep that to a whisper, you know.” The black cat lowered its shoulders. “But why are you so obsessed with this bird?”

“I am not obsessed. I think the laws of nature are important, but I also think life is important.”

“You’re contradicting yourself.”

“Yes, I am.”

Brunhild picked up her palette and brush. She brought the brush to somewhere other than the forest. She brought it to the area that had been empty up to this point. She brought it to the spot for the cabin and the people.

“Do you want to hear an old story?”

“Yes.”

“This was long ago when I was still very young.”

“How many hundreds of years ago was that? No, ah, s-sorry! Ahhh! The bottom of that brush is pointed!!”

“Shut up. At any rate, a certain person saved a town near our forest back then. A mechanical dragon had gone out of control. When the pilot was joining with it, the rejection reaction was especially strong and he went insane. The town was half destroyed and the mechanical dragon entered the forest to pursue the people who had fled into it.”

The cat said nothing and only nodded.

Brunhild continued speaking as she painted the black base for the cabin.

“This person fought despite being injured and won all on his own. I do not know if it was on a whim or what, but he took in an injured bird afterwards. We all took care of it.”

The black cat looked up at the canvas. A few different people were drawn in charcoal around the cabin Brunhild was painting black.

An old man read a book within the cabin and a girl and a woman played with a bird in front of the cabin.

And a man could faintly be seen as well.

The cat looked at those line drawings before turning toward Brunhild. Lastly, it looked back at the charcoal lines of the flying bird.

“So…” The cat tilted its head. “You want to see those flapping wings once more? Something like that?”

“No,” replied Brunhild with slight laugh. “This is a painting. It is not real. When our world was destroyed, that bird escaped its cage and…”

She took a breath, but did not continue speaking.

The silence spreading around her caused the cat to tremble, but Brunhild laughed quietly again.

“Ha,” she breathed out before speaking in a trembling but smiling voice. “If he had been there, I think the outcome would have been different. He saved that bird despite knowing the world would be destroyed, so why did he not see it through to the end? And even if it was only for a short time, he had been with Lady Gutrune so much… So why?”

As she asked that question to no one in particular, the black cat’s eyes opened wide.

“Is this person you are talking about who I think it is?”

“Yes. The sorcerer who arrived from Low-Gear. The man who stole the holy sword Gram from 1st-Gear and destroyed that earth and that sky. And the enemy who killed those who were like family to me before running away.”

Brunhild spoke his name.

“Siegfried Zonburg. …Our greatest foe.”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_11|Chapter 11]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_13|Chapter 13]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 11

2016-01-16T03:18:20Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 11: Her Fingers */ consistency edit

==Chapter 11: Her Fingers==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0307.png|thumb]]
''If you draw in one who is waiting

''They will become one who is hoping

''Instead of merely waiting, they will be hoping

The sun began to sink and the shadows of buildings and people grew slightly slanted.

The rectangular shadows of the school buildings of Taka-Akita Academy to the west of Tokyo were no exception.

Two deeper shadows stood in the shadow behind the 2nd year general school building on the western edge of the academy.

They were Brunhild and the black cat.

Brunhild was not keeping the black cat from speaking as it gasped for breath. It lay on its stomach and spoke quietly.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever panicked that much before. I followed my observation target and ran across a gunfight. And I certainly didn’t expect them to all of a sudden target me. I shouldn’t have walked there in this form.”

“If you think about it, you might have become the cat with the most involvement in the history of 1st-Gear. At any rate, I’m glad you managed to escape.”

“You were worried about me? Thanks.”

“Yes. It would be a shame to waste the wonderful relationship we have constructed together.”

“I just learned that the word ‘wonderful’ has more than one meaning,” commented the cat with a sigh.

Brunhild said, “Now, what is this report that was so urgent you had to stop me from going to the cafeteria?”

“The Royal Palace faction surrendered. All of the hawks showed up, but they lost.”

“They lost? With all of them there? Who did UCAT send out?”

“Surely you already know. Who do you think I was observing? The Royal Palace faction’s terrorist attack was just a showy bonus I stumbled onto while tracking him. …He took part in the battle.”

Brunhild muttered the name of their observation target as if to confirm it.

“…Siegfried Zonburg.”

“Yes, but he was only a guest. He was not part of the main force.”

Brunhild’s expression stiffened at that. The black cat grinned and continued speaking.

“It seems this school’s student council president, vice president, and treasurer are part of Team Leviathan. It looked like an automaton also took part as a guest. What will you do?”

“You have to ask? If they are our enemy, I will have to fight them if it comes to that.”

The cat fell silent at that. It slowed its breathing and looked up at Brunhild.

Finally, it spoke.

“Can you do that? This may be you we’re talking about, but you have no grudge against them.”

“If they are our enemy, I will have no choice.”

“They might pass by in the hall and greet you.”

“Do you think they will simply greet me on the battlefield?” asked Brunhild and the black cat stared up at its master.

“True enough,” it said with a nod after a short time. It lowered its gaze and quietly added, “But you are the type of person who still remembers the song Siegfried taught you.”

Brunhild sighed, placed her hands on her hips, and tilted her head.

“I do not know what you are trying to do, but try not to trouble me too much.” After thinking for a moment, she spoke to the cat that was hanging its head down. “Even if they may become my enemy on the battlefield, Team Leviathan is still being formed, correct? Siegfried may be another matter, but there is no guarantee the others will become my enemies, right?”

“Right. The vice president had a lot of things explained to him. Team Leviathan is still not fully put together.”

“Then we do not know what will happen. Unlike Siegfried who destroyed 1st-Gear, they are not yet clear combatants. I will not try to kill someone like that.”

“Yes… That would be nice.”

The black cat raised its head and Brunhild looked back with an expressionless look.

She remained silent and the cat commented, “Is this a wonderful relationship?”

“You shouldn’t have to say it yourself, though.” Brunhild brought a hand to her cheek and smiled bitterly. After a moment, she lowered that hand. “But the Royal Palace faction will likely join with the peaceful faction they originally broke off from. And UCAT will likely recommend they do so. To set the stage for discussions with us, they need to strengthen the peaceful faction as an intermediary.”

“This is getting tricky.”

“Yes. But the Royal Palace faction truly is pathetic. If a battle this small is enough to satisfy them, they should have stopped fighting ages ago. They may have secretly always wanted to return to the peaceful faction.”

“So they went out of the way to cause this commotion and get captured so they could align with the peaceful faction while also sticking to their principles? Is that it? But why?”

“Pride. That’s why. …And that is also why I cannot mock them. The Royal Palace faction regained a small bit of what we lost when we were destroyed. We do not have even that, so we have no room to talk. Now, let’s go.”

With a nod, Brunhild began walking toward the cafeteria.

To keep the cat from speaking, Brunhild gripped a blue stone in her right hand and began to write something in the air.

But she stopped when she heard a small sound.

“Chirping?” she asked.

The black cat looked around and said, “Over there.”

It was facing a line of trees in front of the 3rd year general school building.

High-pitched chirping could be heard from the ground below one of those trees.

Brunhild jogged over and saw it. A fully-fledged but still young bird was repeatedly flapping its wings fruitlessly at the bottom of the tree.

The chirping continued below the afternoon sun.

Sayama and Ooshiro sat at the rest area bench to the east of the grassy area.

Shinjou had gone to report on the situation, so she was not with them. Sayama let out a light sigh at that fact.

The scene around him was no different than it had been before the 1st-Gear attackers had arrived.

The stone wall had not crumbled and the rest area had not been destroyed. The fact that it had all happened inside a Concept Space finally hit home for Sayama.

Everywhere he looked, people were running around in all sorts of uniforms. They were UCAT workers.

After the battle, the knight and his comrades had surrendered and the Concept Space had been neutralized and released. At the same moment, UCAT vehicles had arrived through the Sakashita Gate on the east side of the Imperial Palace. The various vehicles were disguised as a delivery company, a gardener, a mover, a security company, etc.

The people who stepped out of the vehicles were dressed to match the camouflage. This led to their uniforms all being mismatched.

From what Sayama could see, the delivery company was the investigation team, the gardener was the medical team, and the mover was the maintenance team. Unsurprisingly, the security company took care of security at the entrance to the open area.

The knight and his comrades were taken away by those in the delivery company uniform. As Sayama watched them, Ooshiro Kazuo spoke from where he sat to Sayama’s left.

“They were one of the radical factions of 1st-Gear.”

“You said I would be carrying out provisional negotiations with the peaceful faction tomorrow, but is the situation there just as dangerous?”

“Don’t worry. The peaceful faction wishes to talk this out. However…”

“However?” repeated Sayama.

Ooshiro raised two fingers on his right hand with the passing uniformed workers behind them.

“You heard from Shinjou-kun that 1st-Gear has two Concept Cores, correct?”

“I heard they are sealed inside a sword and something called a mechanical dragon.”

“Yes. The first is in the holy sword Gram which is stored in UCAT’s western branch headquarters below IAI headquarters. The second…well, it is inside Fafnir Custom, the mechanical dragon belonging to the City faction. That is the largest radical group and we do not currently know where they are located. The modified mechanical dragon supposedly has separate reactors for movement and weaponry and the Concept Core is sealed within the weapons reactor. That is a very big problem.”

“Fafnir, you say?”

Sayama had heard the names Gram and Fafnir before.

…''They are from a European epic poem.

“That is from the Ring of the Nibelung, isn’t it? My grandfather took me to an opera based on that story once. Our opinions on it were split, so we got into a fistfight once we returned home. …But why is that showing up here?”

“That is a trivial detail, so I will explain it later. At any rate, your true negotiation opponent is the radical faction possessing the other Concept Core. When that happens…”

“It would be best to have the peaceful faction act as an intermediary. Is that what the preliminary negotiations tomorrow are for?”

“Yes. Do your best not to cause any conflict. …What we want is to receive the concepts from them and activate them. A lot of them will be opposed to the idea, but in order to apologize for destroying all the other Gears, we have no intention of causing a second war.”

Ooshiro raised his right thumb and Sayama ignored him.

“Now then,” said Sayama. “Basically, you want me to put an end to the grudges from the past, obtain a promise to release the concepts, and prevent the world from growing too far in the negative direction? That certainly is a convenient task you are forcing onto me.”

“The Leviathan Road is a series of negotiations to that end.” Ooshiro then raised five fingers. “Sayama Kaoru, your grandfather, placed five conditions on the Leviathan Road.” He lowered his thumb. “First, in your research, the consenting representatives of each Gear may not disclose information on any Gear but their own. Also, any information related to the destruction of the Gears must be investigated and determined by you and those helping you. No one else may guide you.”

At this point Ooshiro looked toward Sayama.

“Do you have any questions?”

“I was planning to ask all my questions after you had finished. Is that okay?”

“I can never underestimate you.” Ooshiro smiled faintly and lowered his index finger. “Second, members of UCAT are forbidden from revealing or leading you to any information on the Gears or their destruction except for the information given prior to the Leviathan Road beginning and what is needed to introduce the representatives of the friendly Gears.” He lowered his middle finger. “Third, any added helpers will be overlooked, but no one may be forced to help.” He lowered his ring finger. “Fourth, if you choose to take action, UCAT will cooperate to the best of our ability.” Lastly, he lowered his little finger. “The negotiations with 6th-Gear and 10th-Gear are already complete, so you will focus on negotiations with the other Gears instead of repeating negotiations with those two Gears. This must be completed as quickly as possible and by any means necessary.”

After explaining all that, Ooshiro lightly spread his hands downwards and tilted his head.

“What do you think?”

Sayama nodded, brought a hand to his chin, and replied.

“Saying it too bluntly would cause some problems, so I will be more indirect: Was my grandfather an idiot?”

“Oh, nicely said. Now, how about I be a little indirect, too?” Ooshiro held his head in his hands. “That’s harsh!”

“I think I will ignore that and continue on.”

“…”

“He tells me to negotiate, but he refuses to give me any information on my opponent and wants me to feel everything out as I go along? What does he plan to do if I make some horrible mistake out of ignorance? He can just go to hell. …Actually, I suppose he is already there.”

“Calm down and listen. You will be occasionally introduced to representatives to the Gears who approve of the Leviathan Road. And what your grandfather truly wanted was for you to gain experiences rather than knowledge of the past. …Baku there in your pocket was his idea as well.”

Ooshiro reached out and petted Baku’s head as he spoke.

In response, Sayama said, “Before we begin talking about ideas, I still do not believe everything about this situation.”

Sayama smiled bitterly when he suddenly realized he was motivated to do this despite complaining.

''I am not calm,'' he thought. ''I am still at the stage of deciding whether I will be involved or not.

That thought calmed him down. He had not yet decided if he would accept the right passed down to him. There was a lot he did not understand and he was only at the very first stage where he was being taught many different things. The biggest problem Sayama saw was in the phrase “by any means necessary”. That meant it was already assumed lives would be taken and lost.

It was true that there was no guarantee this could be resolved by talking it out if a radical faction possessed the Concept Core.

The Leviathan Road was a negotiation to prevent the world from falling to the negative concepts and being destroyed.

That meant combat could not be taken off the table and it was worth taking some risks for. However…

…''But can I do that?

He had doubts.

That was a question he could not answer just by thinking about it. And so he shook his head.

For a change of pace, he asked Ooshiro about something that had been bothering him about 1st-Gear.

“I want to hear more about what we mentioned before. During the battle, I saw the name Wotan Kingdom on the book loaded into that knight’s rifle. And just now you mentioned the holy sword Gram and Fafnir. Is that-…?”

“Those names are from the epic poem ‘The Song of the Nibelungs’ that spread across Northern Europe and Germany and from the Volsunga Saga, the Norse legend it is based on.”

This explanation came from a voice behind and to the left of Sayama. It was Siegfried.

Sayama turned around to find Siegfried standing with Izumo and Kazami on either side. They had already removed their equipment which was being stowed in a mobile okonomiyaki stand.

Sayama stared at the three of them and asked, “How can that be? Why does 1st-Gear, an alternate world, use the same words as an epic poem of our world?”

“What makes you think it originates from our world?”

That left Sayama at a loss for words. Siegfried nodded his head once and continued speaking.

“The Izumo Aviation Institute once created its National Defense Department and chose skilled researchers and test pilots. A ‘sorcerer’ arrived from Germany and set out to modify the ley lines. However, when the facilities meant to connect Japan to the world and bring the world’s earthly energy to Japan, strange phenomena occurred in various parts of Japan.”

“Strange phenomena?”

“Monsters and worlds that had become legends in various parts of the world appeared in Japan once the ley lines were connected. The alterations to the ley lines increased the connection rate with the other Gears. Concept Spaces repeatedly opened up centered on ten different locations within Japan and we would occasionally battle them. And we realized something.” Siegfried took a breath. “The cultures of the ten other Gears appearing in the ten locations at which Japan’s ley lines were modified greatly resembled the legends, myths, and cultures of the regions those ley lines corresponded to.”

“You mean…”

It was Kazami who answered this time.

“What a pain,” she said first while raising both her palms. “That’s right. Ever since Low-Gear began to exist, it has crossed paths with the other Gears a few times and that has created a few connections. Low-Gear is where the other Gear’s negative concepts end up, but that has given us the characteristics of all the other Gears’ cultures.” Kazami then walked in front of Siegfried and placed a hand on Izumo’s shoulder. And, “Anyway, certain circumstances led to me becoming a member of UCAT. Differences in physical strength can be overcome in Concept Spaces after all. …Sayama, why are you getting involved in all this?”

“I do not know. I still have no reason.”

“I see,” said Kazami with a nod. She formed a gun with her right hand and aimed it at his forehead. “We were in that forest last night, too. I was the one that fired that last shot.”

“…”

“I’m only involved as the result of a certain event and someone I know, but I’ve made it in this deep. If you want to rethink this, this is your last chance, Sayama. Also…”

Kazami lowered her gun hand, grabbed Izumo’s hand, and began walking away.

“Eh? We’re leaving already?” asked Izumo as Kazami dragged him away.

Izumo frantically waved toward Sayama and Kazami looked over her shoulder with a bitter smile. As she continued toward a UCAT vehicle disguised as a pizza food truck, that bitter smile transformed into a true smile.

As if to make doubly sure, she said, “Well, let’s keep things the same as ever at school.”

She then faced forward once more. With her back to Sayama, she dragged Izumo along with her and left.

After watching them leave, Sayama turned toward Siegfried.

The tall old man was also watching Kazami and Izumo leave.

Rather than Sayama or Siegfried, it was Ooshiro Kazuo who spoke next.

“She was trying to help you out there, Mikoto-kun. Kazami-kun is quite nice.”

“I am having difficulty understanding why she needed to act so tough, though. Also, old man, haven’t you ever heard the proverb telling the elderly not to act like they are still young?”

Sayama’s manner of speaking brought a small smile to Siegfried’s lips.

“Such a nostalgic way of speaking. I have not had much chance to speak with you at school, but it seems you have inherited more than enough of the Sayama personality. You really are Sayama’s grandson.”

“You call me his grandson, but I am actually the son of his adopted son.”

That turned Siegfried’s smile into a bitter one.

That bitter smile brought a sudden pressure to the left side of Sayama’s chest. He quickly realized why. During the battle, Siegfried had said he was a former member of the National Defense Department.

…''He must have known my grandfather.

For that reason, he went in a different direction with his next question to Siegfried.

“Why is the man who destroyed 1st-Gear working as a school librarian?”

“That library contains documents related to the Concept War. When UCAT makes a request, I investigate it on their behalf. Before that, I worked as a weapon tester for German UCAT, but…”

When he trailed off, Ooshiro finished for him.

“His ability was simply too great. They were unable to determine the pure ability of the weapon. And nine years ago when the previous librarian died, we had him return to Japan after so many years.”

“Then will you be involved in the Leviathan Road?”

“I will only be involved in the negotiations with 1st-Gear. I cannot interfere with the others.” He cast his eyes down lightly and spoke his next words more quietly. “After all, 1st-Gear was the only Gear I destroyed.”

Below a tree sitting in the sun, a small bird flapped its wings against the ground.

Standing before it was Brunhild and the black cat.

The cat rushed over to the bird and frantically looked back toward Brunhild.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-what should we do!? Th-this is an awful situation here! What should we do? Look at the poor thing. I-isn’t there anything we can do!? Can I eat it!?”

“Was that last one what you really think?” asked Brunhild with half-lidded eyes before crouching down.

The small bird was chirping while bending its black head backwards. Black feathers ran down the center of its white chest like a necktie. The small wings striking the ground were slightly blue but mostly black.

It was small, but it had the distinct coloration of a nearly fully-grown bird. Brunhild frowned a bit as she crouched down.

“We cannot interfere with this. This is the law of nature. …Look up.”

The cat and Brunhild look up. A small, dark semicircle was visible atop one of the poplar tree’s branches. It was a bird’s nest. However…

“No other birds are crying within the nest. The other children and the parents have left. This one likely cannot fly. Or it may be able to but cannot remember how or lacks the strength. One way or the other, it cannot fly now.”

“You know a lot about this.”

“Long ago, I took care of an injured bird.”

“Then why not do it again?”

“I can’t. …Don’t give me that look. I said I can’t, so I can’t. It isn’t happening.”

“C’mon, Brunhild. You aren’t making any sense. You say it’s the law of nature, but you broke it before, right?”

“Shut up.”

Brunhild reached out a hand to grab the black cat’s tail, but the cat stepped out of the way. With the slight sound of it treading on the gravel, the cat circled around to the other side of the flapping bird.

Brunhild frowned and the small bird ceased flapping and chirping once the cat’s shadow fell over it.

Brunhild held out her hand.

“Come here. I was headed to the cafeteria. I can get some food for you too.”

“That’s all right. I have some food right here.”

Brunhild stood up and sighed.

“What are you doing?”

“This is what you meant by the law of nature, right? I’m hungry and I want to relieve myself of some stress that has been building up. …That’s how it works, right?”

“Stop that,” said Brunhild as she stepped forward on the gravel. The cat moved back just as far and she asked it, “What would you do if I wasn’t here?”

“Capture it and eat it. Just like my instincts tell me to.”

“In other words, you will have a chance unless I watch over this bird until it starves?”

She looked down. The bird stopped flapping its wings and looked up at Brunhild.

The bird then gave a quiet tweet.

“…”

Brunhild remained silent, but the ends of her eyebrows lowered slightly.

The bird moved. It lightly raised its body and showed off its flapping wings. It chirped as it looked up at her. It chirped again and again without stopping. Brunhild cast her eyes down as she heard it.

Her shoulders drooped and she sighed. She then spoke to the black cat.

“Um…Can I?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t say ‘sure’ before I even get to what I’m talking about!!”

“That may be true, but…did that help relieve some stress?”

“Yes.” Brunhild’s shoulders lowered, she lifted her right hand, and raised the index finger. “You know, this is a lot of responsibility. It isn’t something to take on lightly.”

“…You seemed amazingly carefree when you took me on as your familiar.”

“Oh, shut up. Honestly,” muttered Brunhild as she crouched down once more.

She held her hand out toward the small bird. The bird hesitated for a moment, but eventually struck the ground with its wings and hopped up onto her palm. It must have felt the lightly curled palm was safe because it settled down in the bottom of her palm and tweeted quietly.

Brunhild looked down at the bird and muttered, “Now I’ve done it…”

“Ahh ahh, you broke the law of nature! You shouldn’t do that, Miss Brunhild!”

She wanted to do something, but her hand was otherwise occupied. She was forced to clench her teeth and blush.

“Wow, for the first time in my life, I feel victory! From now on, I will be the one-…whoa!!”

After kicking the cat in the rear, Brunhild turned her back on it and walked away.

The cat hurried after her.

“Where are you going?”

“The cafeteria. I need food for the bird and a cardboard box for it.”

“What about food for me?”

“How about you obey the law of nature and eat a rat? I can introduce you to a nice sewer.”

She ignored the displeased look on the cat’s face and let out a breath. She looked at the small bird opening its beak and chirping in her hand.

“But I really shouldn’t have done this. Leaving things be is the law of nature.”

“Which is why you should let a natural beast like me eat it.”

“Come to think of it, you aren’t a natural creature at all!”

The Sakashita Gate on the eastern side of the Imperial Palace sat below the sinking afternoon sun.

Sayama and Shinjou sat atop the railing of the bridge crossing the moat. They watched the disguised transport vehicles leave through the gate.

Kazami and Izumo had already left in one of the disguised vehicles along with Siegfried.

Sf had received some simple repairs and was aboard the maintenance team’s vehicle. Sayama recalled when she had expressionlessly grabbed onto Ooshiro Itaru and refused to let go when he said he would return on his own.

Sayama was waiting for Ooshiro Kazuo who was taking part in a pre-withdrawal meeting. He wanted to speak with the old man about the preliminary negotiations with 1st-Gear the following day.

He turned to Shinjou and asked, “Are you heading back after this, Shinjou-kun?”

“Yes. After getting out some like you said I should, Sayama-kun. I’ll stay with you until Ooshiro-san gets here,” she said.

Sayama bowed lightly and said, “Thank you.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I did it again today, though. …Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. There is always the help needed afterwards. Heading to the front is not the only type of ability. Isn’t that right?”

“Perhaps…but did I really manage to help out afterwards?”

“Last night, you lent me your lap and taught me plenty afterwards. Today, you informed us of coming danger and you are speaking with me like this now.”

Shinjou let out a heavy breath when she heard that.

“Maybe I’m not suited for this kind of thing.”

“That is not true,” said Sayama and recalled that he had said something similar the night before.

…''It seems I end up wanting to deny her words on occasion.

He more or less understood why, but he did not pursue the thought.

Stepping in too deep would mean becoming involved with the other person.

The left side of his chest ached slightly.

He had gained that pain when he had lost his parents who had been deeply involved with him.

Sayama looked toward Shinjou.

She kept her head hanging down for a while, but finally…

“Hey.” She slowly raised her head. Her partially lowered eyebrows turned his way and she tilted her head. “Why did you come here today?”

“What do you mean by that? You gave me so much information yesterday.”

“But you have yet to accept the right to the Leviathan Road. After what happened yesterday, haven’t you thought of getting out now to avoid any more danger?”

Sayama saw Shinjou’s gaze turn toward his left arm.

“Why?”

He knew why. But could he communicate it to her by simply saying it?

That he did not know.

''How very strange,'' muttered Sayama in his heart.

The year before in the small area that was the school, he had run for student council vice president, made speeches in front of countless students, and won. Yet now, in front of only one person…

“…”

Sayama realized he had no words to speak.

He had no idea how much time had passed since Shinjou had asked her question.

Yet when he looked toward her, she was still looking his way with the ends of her eyebrows lowered slightly.

She was waiting.

The response he gave to her expectations was a single action. Sayama suddenly placed his hand atop Shinjou’s hand on the railing. Her fingers moved a bit, but she did not reject his touch.

Sayama nodded and asked, “How does my palm feel?”

Shinjou lowered her gaze somewhat.

Sayama felt her fingers move gently beneath his hand.

Her response was quiet and spoken as if it was a question.

“It is hot. And I can feel your pulse?”

“Those are the vestiges of that battle. And…”

Sayama continued in his thoughts.

…''Your pulse and heat from last night were different.

Her pulse had been elevated and she had been warm, but it had been something calmer and deeper.

With that difference in mind, Sayama declared, “I want to gain something more than this.”

“That battle and everything you did in it wasn’t enough?”

“No. And I have to wonder…if it is really okay for me to become serious.”

“Why? Why do you not want to get serious?”

Sayama looked at Shinjou. Her expression was the one of apology he had seen the night before.

While averting his gaze from her eyes without meaning to, Sayama answered.

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain. That is what my grandfather taught me… I was raised to carry out that saying. My power is dedicated to using even greater evil to crush anything I decide is evil or an enemy. But,” he nodded, “I wonder if my evil is truly needed. I could become serious if I wanted to. However, I am currently too afraid of making that decision. If I remain like this, I doubt I would last long.”

“You…have no self-confidence?”

Sayama fell silent at that question.

But Shinjou did not press further. She only shook her head and said something else.

“I think you could do quite well, Sayama-kun. But it is true no one can know exactly how anything will go. Ooshiro-san and the others are inviting you in. They are asking you to do this, but telling you that you might die. And you just said you are afraid of growing serious.” As she spoke quietly, Shinjou sent her words to Sayama. “In that case, maybe you should leave the Leviathan Road.”

Sayama looked at Shinjou.

Their gazes met and her fingers stiffened a bit underneath his hand.

“U-um, Sayama-kun. To be honest, watching you has been kind of scary. When I first met you, you stepped forward to fight and tried to support me. And just now…”

Sayama realized the pain in his chest had grown a bit stronger. However, he did not remove his right hand from Shinjou’s hand. He felt a slightly moist warmth.

“If I fight and lose, I die. If I fight and win, I fear myself and am hated by my enemies… Is that it? But perhaps that is what UCAT wants from me.”

“…Eh?”

Sayama replied to that questioning voice.

“If all of the hatred is forced onto me and then I died, the world would become a more cheerful place, right? And UCAT would remain unscathed. Am I wrong?”

Shinjou looked a bit surprised at that. But…

“Y-you can’t do that! I don’t want you to become someone like that!” she shouted with her eyebrows raised.

As her resounding voice passed through his body, Sayama thought.

…''You are an excellent person to have around.

Shinjou then seemed to realize what exactly she had said because the ends of her eyebrows lowered, her cheeks reddened, and she looked to the side.

Sayama could not keep a smile from appearing on his lips.

At some point the pain in his chest had disappeared. While thinking how pleasant that was, he spoke.

“Well, if you told me you were going to die, I would say the same, Shinjou-kun. And your methods look like a way of killing yourself…at least to me.”

“D-do they?”

“Yes. When you need to fire, you cannot. You walked out onto the battlefield unarmed to inform me of danger. Frankly, I am surprised you are not already dead.”

Shinjou seemed troubled and groaned.

Shinjou thought as that groan escaped from deep within her throat, but she had not realized a certain fact.

…''Why is it that the two of us are both still alive after taking part in combat twice?

No one could provide an answer for Sayama’s question. However, Shinjou’s groan finally returned to being a sigh.

When she turned toward him, her black eyes were staring directly at him. Her small lips opened.

“That may be true. I’ve thought about it before. I’ve wondered if I am really any use when I am only taking part in the fighting to search for my parents.”

She stopped speaking there. She took some time to choose her next words.

“Sayama-kun, are you fighting in order to win?”

“Yes, my grandfather made sure of that. …He constantly told me to win back enough to make up for the losses whenever I fought. He told me to act as a villain and eliminate that which I saw as an enemy or evil.”

That was his attitude when fighting.

''But,'' thought Sayama. ''That is not the same as having confidence in my ability to fight.

When Shinjou heard his words, she muttered a quick comment.

“That’s amazing,” she began “I wish I could say something like that… I have no set attitude telling me how to fight like you do.”

“I have no source of self-confidence to support my decisions like your search for your parents.”

Hearing that, Sayama quietly muttered, “We’re the opposite.”

She gave a bitter smile. The ends of her eyebrows lowered and her bitter smile deepened.

“We really are the opposite,” she continued. “I am always trying to find a way to not grow so strangely desperate as I wonder what I should do. I wish I was stronger so I could be more composed.”

Sayama thought on Shinjou’s words. After a short silence, he spoke.

“We truly are opposites, Shinjou-kun. Perhaps I should keep that in mind.”

“…Eh? What do you mean?”

Shinjou tilted her head in confusion.

Without replying, Sayama moved his right hand.

He lifted Shinjou’s left hand up from the bridge’s railing.

Her fingers were slender and soft. Sayama wrapped his own hand around them.

For just an instant, Shinjou tried to pull her fingers back. However, Sayama lightly dug his fingers into the flesh of her palm.

“Ah…”

With that small voice, Shinjou’s fingers tensed up.

But she finally left only the bare minimum of strength in those fingers, bent them, and entrusted her hand to his. She seemed to hold her hand out to him, but then slowly squeezed his hand back.

Sayama felt that small connection of power in his hand. He looked over to find Shinjou with her head hanging down and her eyes turned upwards to face him. When their gazes met, her shoulders trembled slightly and she frantically spoke up.

“U-um? What did you mean…just now? When you said you should keep that in mind.”

“It is a simple matter,” said Sayama. “Your view of me is surely an alternative answer that I could never come to even if I wanted to.”

“…Eh?”

“You need not think about it too deeply. Even if we are absolute opposites, it makes no difference as long as we do not worry about it. But…I simply want to remember that we each naturally hope for the opposite of the other. What do you think?”

“What do I think…? I’m not sure how to answer that.”

Shinjou’s expression could be seen as a smile or a troubled look, but Sayama smiled in return.

At that moment, a figure waved their way as it cut its way between the leaving disguised vehicles. It was Ooshiro Kazuo.

Sayama took a breath and looked at the watch on his left wrist. It was already nearing four.

“Ooshiro-san is calling for you,” stated Shinjou as if making sure.

She climbed down from the railing.

Sayama did the same and faced her.

Shinjou looked at their clasped hands, hung her head down, and spoke toward the ground.

“Um, today…when you get back to your dorm…don’t be too surprised.”

“Are you sending me something?”

“Yes, sort of. …I only just made up my mind. It will probably make me worry a lot, but I feel I have to.”

“I do not know what you are sending me, but I will gladly accept it.”

Shinjou raised her head when she heard that. With her eyebrows lowered, her face relaxed and formed a smile.

Her narrowed eyes reflected the sun which had begun setting at some point.

As that light grew crimson, they both slowly separated their clasped hands at about the same moment.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_10|Chapter 10]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_12|Chapter 12]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 6

2016-01-16T03:16:33Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 6: Their Impressions */ consistency edit

==Chapter 6: Their Impressions==
[[Image:OnC_v01_00169.png|thumb]]
''Fitting and unfitting

''To be together

''Is a complex sort of restraint

In a certain room, one could look out into the mountains and valleys of Okutama at night.

The aboveground portion of UCAT was disguised as an IAI transportation administration building. This room was on the top floor of that building.

Specifically, it was on the eastern end of the fifth-floor of that large white-walled building hidden in the mountains.

The private room was five meters square and had a single light and a single air conditioner on the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were white, so not a single dark color was visible. However, the floor was covered with disorderly shadows.

Books, documents, cardboard boxes, and packaging were piled up all across the floor. The area around the desk by the window was especially bad. The desk had several cluttered strata piled atop it.

A white-haired man was sitting between the desk and the window. He was wearing a white coat and was the man named Itaru that Sayama had met on the train.

He was sitting shallowly in a wooden chair with his sunglasses still on.

His hand was moving. He was folding a piece of paper.

He was making a paper airplane using a document from a pile on the desk. The text at the top revealed it had been sent to Ooshiro Itaru.

“This is how you deal with documents not even worth looking at.”

Ooshiro Itaru tightly folded one end of the paper, held it up, and aimed. He aimed at the room’s white door.

The pile of documents on his desk was in the way, so he had to lean out a bit.

And he threw it.

The sharply pointed paper airplane soared in a straight line toward the door.

But then the door opened and a girl entered.

This was the maid-uniform girl named Sf. She held a silver tray in one hand.

“Itaru-sama. I have brought your dinner,” she said just as the paper airplane struck her forehead.

With a small yet solid noise, the paper airplane bounced off. It rotated around and fell to the floor that was already cluttered with documents and boxes. Several other paper airplanes were already on the ground at her feet.

However, Sf did not even look at the paper airplane. She remained expressionless.

“Could you give some sort of reaction?” complained Itaru. “Something like, ‘You mustn’t make even more trash! Ukii!’ ”

“This has only altered the form of the trash from a sheet of paper to an airplane. Also, you never continue with the same task for long, so this flight test is unlikely to last long.”

“You’re so boring.”

“German UCAT created what was needed for the situation. According to my creator, I perfectly meet every one of your demands.”

“And that is why you are boring.”

“Thank you very much. It is my duty to meet your demands, Itaru-sama.”

With that said, Sf walked expressionlessly forward. She lightly crushed the paper airplane underfoot.

Sf walked lightly across that paper, other documents, and even the boxes. She finally arrived next to Ooshiro where he sat at his desk.

She bowed and held the silver tray forward. It contained a soup cup and a hamburger.

“This is a soup and a hamburger. Are you familiar with them?”

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like them before! …And if you are displeased about something, just come out and say it.”

“Tes. …Thank you very much for the polite response.”

“You really are boring. So what is it?”

“These are 100% chemical compounds. Not a single natural ingredient was used. UCAT completed the design as an experimental food and announced their research today, but it is not being sent out to be sold by IAI.”

“So it is a food that does not exist in this world but has been created in this world. That would probably sell.”

“I hear they have a large repertoire and the prototypes have been frozen. The head of the dining hall said they would be serving a few different patterns over the next year.’

“I see,” nodded Itaru.

Sf continued, “This provides worse balance when carrying it around than with the solid foods from before. Its performance and nutritional value remain unchanged, so I must deem it an inferior product as it is more difficult to carry and transport.”

“Just get used to it. The head of the dining hall is going to keep serving it until it’s gone no matter what you say.”

“Why? If I am not given a clear answer, I will request the previous type of food from the head of the dining hall.”

“Just think of it as humans needing human food just like dogs need dog food. And the same holds even if this human can no longer eat normal food.”

Without waiting for Sf to respond, Ooshiro took a bite of the hamburger. Cheese, onions, pickles, and beef were held between the buns. None of them were real.

He finished it in five bites and reached for the soup cup.

He gulped it down all at once.

“I thought it would be too hot, but that wasn’t bad.”

“Its temperature was quite high, so I stuck my finger in it on the way here to cool it. My internal temperature is kept low.”

“You really are a machine that meets my every demand. If I could return you, I would do so in a heartbeat.”

Saying that, Itaru returned the soup cup to the tray and wiped his hands on Sf’s apron.

He glanced up at her and said, “Not even a displeased look? I’m dirtying your equipment.”

“Do not worry. This apron is meant for you to wipe your hands on. I also have one for outings, office work, cleaning, receptions, sleep, and ceremonial occasions. This one functions as a disinfectant, so feel free to use it.”

“You are truly an amazing machine. Where can I send my thoughts and requests? Please tell me.”

“Tes. Please send any mail to the Sf assistance official within German UCAT.”

“…You really don’t know what a joke is, do you?”

“I will interpret that as a request, Itaru-sama…Oh.” Sf bowed and leaned forward. She adjusted the position of Itaru’s metal cane leaning up against the chair. Then, “I will be going.”

She turned to leave the room. Itaru called out to her.

“What’s my old man doing?”

“Kazuo-sama was at the first floor’s central entrance not long ago. He was with Shinjou-shi,” while still expressionless, she tilted her head slightly, “and Sayama Mikoto-shi who we saw on the train. It appeared they had discussed the Leviathan Road while underground.”

“Do you know the details?”

“Tes. Sayama Mikoto-shi was informed that there are ten alternate worlds known as Gears, that his grandfather worked with UCAT to destroy them, that the world is facing a crisis, and-…”

“And that he is to gain cooperation from the survivors of the other Gears by engaging in the postwar negotiations known as the Leviathan Road?”

“Tes. He was told to ask Shinjou-shi for any simple information he lacked. …Also, he was handed the sacred beast Baku from 7th-Gear. It is to help him by showing him the past.”

“When will that old man stop putting on airs? He should just tell the little shit to not even think about it.”

“Tomorrow, they will meet at the Imperial Palace at 1:00 PM to explain the details of the Concept War and of the current situation. The day after that, they will visit UCAT’s 1st-Gear reservation for preliminary negotiations with 1st-Gear’s peace faction.”

“Is this Sayama brat really willing to go that far?”

“No. According to Kazuo-sama, this is all tentative. Sayama Mikoto-shi can still reject the right his grandfather has left him. He is being told to make his decision after learning what the Leviathan Road truly is.”

“My old man’s gotten too soft. …Although he is the one that encouraged us on the verge of death way back when.”

“What is the objective of the Leviathan Road?”

“You want to know?”

“Not really, no.”

“Then I’ll tell you.” Ooshiro Itaru picked up a document from his desk. He folded it as he said, “1st- through 10th-Gears were all created from their own unique concepts. We call those positive concepts. On the other hand, our Gear has nothing. The reason for this is simple: this Gear is created from negative concepts. Do you understand so far?”

“Tes.”

“The Concept War was fought by destroying the other Gears, but do you know what basis would have been used to determine which Gears were destroyed and which one survived when all the Gears collided in 1999?”

“No.”

Ooshiro Itaru gave a bitter smile and added another fold to his paper.

“When that time of destruction arrived, the Gear with the most positive concepts would survive. That was why the Gears fought and did their very best to extract and take home as many of the enemy worlds’ concepts as they could. And since this Low-Gear had nothing but negative concepts, it was apparently abandoned right away.”

“But despite being made of negative concepts, this Gear succeeded in destroying the other Gears made of positive concepts. …Is that why we receive so much enmity for winning the Concept War?”

“That’s only one of the reasons, but yes, the underdog won. However, that result means the other Gears’ concepts were brought into this Gear. They are stored in the form of Concept Cores which are masses of concepts on the level of an entire world. That goes well beyond a simple Concept Text.”

The sound of folding paper continued. He made a fold that pointed up like a mountain, spread out the center, and created corners on the four sides.

“Most of the Concept Cores are stored in UCAT. If those Concept Cores are released, they will eat into this Gear’s negative concepts and destroy our current ideas of common sense. However…”

“However?”

“Ten years ago, the negative concepts of this Gear began to activate for some reason. If nothing is done, this Gear will continue even further in the negative direction and be destroyed. To stop this, all the positive Concept Cores must be released to create a balance. We know this will change the world, but it is our only option.” His hands stopped moving. “My old man says this is accepting the existence of the lost Gears. This world will accept the powers of those destroyed Gears and will maintain its existence using those powers. However, most of the Concept Cores were split and a portion remains in the hands of the Gear’s survivors. Also, the war ended 60 years ago, so we cannot act like conceited victors and simply do as we wish with the Concept Cores. We must hold official negotiations with each Gear and gain permission to use the Concept Cores.”

“And that is the Leviathan Road? To be honest, I cannot determine if this is true. What proof do we have that the negative concepts have become active?”

“Japan and you, Sf. The ones you and those like you are based on fell asleep when brought from 3rd-Gear. Now, tell me when they awoke.”

“…December 25, 1995.”

“And what happened in Japan on that day?”

Sf immediately replied, “If my memory is correct, the great Kansai earthquake.”

“Yes, you are correct. That was one aspect of this. And the Concept Cores must have had some sort of reaction too because their concepts began to leak just a tiny bit into this Gear. That is why those girls became able to move ever so slightly.”

“…”

“The negative concepts are even now growing more and more active. It has been predicted that their activity will reach its critical point at exactly ten years after it began. In other words,” he powerfully added a fold, “December 25 of this year.”

Ooshiro Itaru’s hands stopped there. He placed what he had folded atop the pile of documents on his desk. It was a square with one end pointed. It had a square protrusion on the top.

Sf looked at it and asked, “Is it a boat?”

“Does it look that way to you? No. It is a tower. Look at it like this.”

He pressed down on the back of the square to stand it up. It was a tower stabbing straight up to heaven.

“It all begins here.”

Sayama and Shinjou left the white-walled UCAT headquarters which was disguised as a large IAI transportation administration building. They then walked toward the main entrance through the IAI grounds.

He had left his cell phone with UCAT along with his torn coat so they could be inspected after the battle. Sayama called someone from back home using the cell phone he had been provided with.

A car would arrive for him in half an hour. He had to make his way out of both UCAT and IAI grounds in that time. However…

“This place is much larger than I expected. Maybe we should have waited for the bus,” Sayama said.

“I-I agree. I thought I wanted to walk for once, but that may have been a mistake,” replied Shinjou.

The UCAT area was filled with 3000 meter runways and large hangars that were visible under the nighttime lighting.

A kilometer long valley could be seen partway across and it was what hid UCAT from the surrounding areas. The IAI area on the other side had many more lights and the buildings on the surface were much larger.

Sayama and Shinjou spoke as they walked down the central road between the buildings.

He asked her what she knew about the Concept War and the time of destruction.

He then asked her about the person from 1st-Gear who had been their opponent that evening.

“The 1st-Gear Concept Core has been split into two. 1st-Gear was a world that sat on a flat table. The first Concept Core constructed that single isolated world. The other provided the unique aspect of 1st-Gear. That is the concept that gives power to words and allows 1st-Gear to use something like magic.”

“Does UCAT possess both of those Concept Cores?”

“The world construction Concept Core was sealed in a 1st-Gear sword and is stored in Japanese UCAT’s western branch located below IAI HQ. But the word concept one was sealed in a mechanical dragon belonging to the radicals that fled into this world.”

“A mechanical dragon?”

“It is a weapon shaped like a dragon. I’ve never actually seen one, though.”

As he watched Shinjou shrug, Sayama decided she was not lying.

“That sounds like a weapon out of a manga or something,” he said.

“Oh, I actually prefer novels. I don’t read much manga, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Hm. It is sad to hear you denying part of Japan’s culture like that. …But at any rate, if I accept these rights from my grandfather, I will ultimately have to negotiate with these radicals, won’t I?”

He nodded in understanding. A break in the conversation formed and he looked around as he walked. Several giant white buildings could be seen under the outdoor lights. At this point, the UCAT buildings were nowhere to be seen.

“So UCAT is a hidden village. …The normal IAI workers know nothing about UCAT and think the area further in is an airport.”

“As you were told before, the Izumo Aviation Institute’s Tokyo branch had a national defense department during the war. That department learned of the Concept War, researched it, and became Japanese UCAT immediately after the war.”

“Do you know a lot about that?”

“No. Tonight was the first I ever heard about your grandfather being a part of it all.”

“Same here. That probably means my parents did not know either. They only worked for IAI. They must not have known that my grandfather had anything to do with the transportation facility over the valley.”

As he spoke, Sayama brought his hand to the left side of his chest and looked toward his left shoulder. A single small animal stood there.

The 15 centimeter animal was of a type he had never seen before. Its face looked like a boar, it had a round body, and its legs had hooves.

“That’s Baku, right? I’ve never seen it before. It can…show people the past, right?”

“The old man said it was like dreaming. Apparently, it was on the verge of dying but managed to survive due to the slight release of the positive concepts in reaction to the negative concepts beginning to activate ten years ago.”

When he reached out his hand, Baku drew back but then reached out its front legs to grab his finger.

“I wonder what kind of past it can show me… I suppose it could only be an unpleasant past.”

He glanced over to find Shinjou hanging her head down.

While walking alongside her, Sayama asked, “What is it?”

“Oh, sorry. It’s just… I didn’t know anything about you and 10 years ago, Sayama-kun.”

“Oh, you mean when my father headed to Kansai with the IAI rescue team and-…”

“You don’t have to say it. You don’t have to talk about your chest pains either. …It would be best if you don’t talk about it.”

“I do not mind.”

“You should. You shouldn’t talk about your parents and yourself like they are strangers.”

“But my parents more or less are strangers and I work to view myself objectively.”

In response to his words, the ends of Shinjou’s eyebrows drooped slightly as she looked up at him.

Sayama received her gaze head on.

''She is likely in the right here,'' he muttered in his heart. Shinjou had said she had no memory of her parents. She wanted to search for them. He decided that was what led her to be right.

When Sayama had been told that the objective of the Leviathan Road was the suppression of the negative concepts, the topic had turned to the activation of the negative concepts and the great Kansai earthquake ten years ago.

And that had naturally led to Sayama’s parents. Sayama had seen the look on Shinjou’s face change when she heard about his father’s death during relief work for the earthquake, about his mother taking him with her and trying to commit a double suicide, and about his angina.

When she had once more asked about the ring he wore, he had given her the proper answer.

It was a memento of his mother.

She had then apologized. She had said she had not been thinking when she had said what she said in front of the medical room.

She was now looking up at him with the same expression as back then. The ends of her eyebrows had lightly lowered above her black eyes.

Before, it had been an expression of apology. But now it was an expression of admonition over speaking as if his parents were strangers. Sayama thought on Shinjou’s words and expression.

…''When she should be criticizing me, why does she use the expression of someone who has done something wrong?

But before Sayama could come up with an answer, Shinjou made a move. Her head drooped down.

“Sorry,” she said.

Sayama tilted his head in confusion. He was the one who deserved to be criticized here.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“B-because I was being an imposition on you, Sayama-kun.”

When Sayama heard those words she spoke to the ground, he spoke.

“There is one thing I hope you understand.”

But then his lips produced another statement.

“That is not true at all.”

After he spoke, Sayama realized what he had said.

Why had he permitted someone else to give their opinion on his pet theory?

As he felt that slight shock, he saw Shinjou look up at him wide-eyed with her eyebrows still lowered. A bit of surprise could be seen on her face as well.

''She is surprised from the simple fact that someone accepted what she said,'' he thought.

She was serious about this.

It was related to one’s memories of one’s parents. That was something that she lacked.

Sayama thought as he watched Shinjou’s expression change before his eyes.

Why had he allowed Shinjou’s opinion?

…''That is because she understands.

Her expression changed ever so slightly.

…''She understands what it is she seeks.

The ends of Shinjou’s eyebrows lowered and her eyes narrowed around her large pupils.

[[Image:OnC_v01_0185.png|thumb]]

…''That is something I do not have.

She opened her mouth slightly, let out a soft breath, and spoke.

“Thank you…”

Sayama nodded and looked away as he changed the subject.

“At any rate, I need to think about whether I should accept the Leviathan Road or not.”

“Y-yes. If you do, it will involve more than just negotiations. You will be dealing with people as desperate as this evening.”

“I see.” Sayama nodded and muttered under his breath. “I wonder if he viewed me as desperate.”

''I was not,'' he thought with a sigh. It had ended before he could. And Sayama remembered what he had felt when he had been about to take action at the end. He had thought that he had been wrong.

He understood why he had felt that way.

…''I am inexperienced. Even if I am wrong, I simply need to think it is necessary.

Sayama wondered when he would become the kind of person his grandfather had been.

He then recalled the battle from that evening.

“Our enemy was serious and so were you. …I have seen many different fights, but that battle was not fought hopelessly or as a game.”

“According to Ooshiro-san, we will head to the 1st-Gear reservation for the preliminary negotiations the day after tomorrow. It seems they realized we are taking action, so one of the radicals tried to win over the peaceful faction on the reservation.”

“So he made his way into the middle of enemy territory. …What leads people to head down such dangerous paths?”

“Well…”

“How about we leave it as ‘there are things that cannot be explained with words’. According to the old man, tomorrow we will go to the Imperial Palace so he can show me the beginning of the Concept War and the day after tomorrow we will meet with representatives of 1st-Gear’s peaceful faction for preliminary negotiations. If that was all, I would not be remotely interested. However, I saw one of the radicals today. I am interested in the Leviathan Road.”

…''So that is what it looks like when two serious people clash in desperation.

“Utilizing force creates enmity, but there are some who will never accept it if you do not. What can be done about that? …These negotiations are wrapped in contradiction. Perhaps that is why I was chosen.”

Sayama looked forward to find they were approaching the main entrance. The guard noticed them and activated the automatic gate. With a sound like rattling chains, the gate disappeared belowground.

Amid that sound, Shinjou stopped walking and asked a question.

“That is why…? Why would you have been chosen, Sayama-kun?”

Sayama stopped as well. He supported Baku who almost fell from his shoulder.

“My grandfather would boldly declare that the surname Sayama indicates a villain. He was a lone wolf corporate blackmailer. …This is a similar dirty job. Someone is needed to crush this kind of idiot underfoot.”

…''And they hope that person will be me.

Sayama wondered if he could manage it.

If he was to leave, he had to do it now.

“…”

Sayama fell silent. With a click of the heel, he began walking once more.

A step later, Shinjou rushed up to join him.

“Wait!” she called.

But Sayama did not turn around.

He heard Shinjou’s footsteps line up beside him.

“Um, Sayama-kun. Sorry, but…”

“What is it?” he asked.

Shinjou’s head drooped and she folded her hands in front of her waist.

“Umm,” she started. “I just want to check one thing about what you said.”

She formed a troubled smile and asked her question.

“What is a corporate blackmailer?”

“What?”

“S-sorry. I know it was a really important part, but…well…I’m not quite sure what it means.”

Sayama’s mouth hung open and he let out a “ha!”

…''Oh, I see.

He did not care if his laugh reverberated in his left arm. He let loose and laughed without restraint.

''Is that all it was?'' he thought.

Meanwhile, Shinjou’s face grew red.

“Wh-why are you laughing? Is it that funny?”

“Apologies. You are an honest person, Shinjou-kun. A corporate blackmailer is someone who uses violence or influence hidden from the law to threaten corporations into giving them something in return. They bring harassment or unseen violence and if the corporation wants it to stop, they have to give them some sort of influence or a good rate in negotiations.” He thought for a moment. “But unlike normal ones, a lone wolf corporate blackmailer who acts out of conviction is an idiot. When they see an enemy or evil, they wield their justice and charge in. They make no threats, they harass no one, and they cause no violence. They cry out about the injustices and fraud of corporations and wield their power in the name of justice. And they do not care who else is damaged in the process. They do not care if they are hated.”

Shinjou gulped. At that moment, they passed through the main gate. The guard bowed and they bowed back.

“Will you…choose the same thing as your grandfather?”

“Perhaps. …He truly was hated by a lot of people. When he dug up corporate injustice, not many corporations could withstand the reorganizations and dismissals that followed. He did not know the meaning of the word mercy.”

“Really?”

Sayama nodded as he thought about his grandfather. He brought a hand to his forehead and sighed.

“Yes. When I was in fourth grade, I ignored a lame gag he made. That developed into an actual fistfight. What kind of person fights an elementary school boy while wearing nothing but his underwear, goes in for a cross counter, and then takes a photo to commemorate his victory? You will never find a more childish old man in all of human history. I suppose that breed went extinct recently.”

“I think I see a candidate before me…”

“That would be nice,” replied Sayama with a smile.

They stopped in front of the main entrance. Across the wide road in front of them was a cliff with the Tama River flowing down below and forests on the mountains and valleys beyond. The lights of the IAI hospital and employee dormitory could be seen in the distance.

While listening to the sound of the river, Sayama spoke to Shinjou.

“At any rate, I think my grandfather was hated because he was a true villain and nothing else.”

“Why did he continue to do that even though it made him so hated?”

“I do not know. And to be honest, I am jealous. Why was he able to do that? …If I understood that, I could choose my own path without so much doubt.”

Sayama said no more. And shortly thereafter, headlights approached from the Akigawa direction of the road.

“Is that from your family?”

“It is from a yakuza family that became indebted to my grandfather. They run a security company now, though.”

As he spoke, the car pulled up. It was a large, black car. The windows were all tinted black so the inside could not be seen.

It came to a stop.

“Wah,” said Shinjou as she drew back.

A man had stepped out of the driver’s seat on the left.

This young man had close-cropped hair and wore a blue suit. He turned toward Sayama.

“Young master, I have come to take you home.”

He bowed and looked toward Shinjou. Slight caution could be seen in the young man’s actions.

He then turned his eyes toward the bandages wrapped around Sayama’s left arm.

Sayama nodded and said, “Kouji, do not worry. I trust her. She…treated my wound when I tripped in the forest. Her name is Shinjou-…”

He trailed off when he realized he had never asked her given name. Shinjou picked up on this and answered.

“Oh, it is Sadame. My name is Shinjou Sadame.”

“I see. My apologies. I am Tamiya Kouji. It seems you have been of great help to my young master.”

“Eh? No, um… He helped me too…”

Shinjou took a step back, stood right next to Sayama, and whispered.

“You tripped in the forest?”

“I can hardly tell him the truth, can I?”

“Yes, but I wasn’t the one to treat you. …And this is an amazing reception. Why is he treating you like this?”

“You could say this family is a memento of my grandfather. I did not acquire this myself. Do you not-…”

Sayama was going to say “have anything like that”, but he swallowed the words.

Shinjou sighed, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

“Don’t worry. I do have…a younger brother. My twin brother. But…” She gave a bitter smile and lowered her head slightly when she saw Tamiya looking at her. “Your environment… Whether you can call it a family or not, it’s quite amazing.”

“I see,” said Sayama with a nod. He then amended it to, “I suppose so.”

At that point, he realized he had a bit of leeway within him now. He knew she was not completely alone.

He concluded that the male language mixed into her speech<ref>The most prominent example of her use of male language is using “boku” to refer to herself.</ref> was due to that environment of hers. He then nodded slightly in her direction.

“Now then. Thank you for seeing me off. …Will I see you tomorrow?”

Shinjou nodded and gave only a slight smile. That was the sign of their parting.

A girl stood on the rooftop of Taka-Akita Academy’s second year general school building.

She stood on the western edge overlooking the nightscape of Akigawa City.

It was Brunhild wearing her uniform and with her gray hair blowing in the wind.

As the moon shone down on the rooftop, she placed her hands on the railing and opened her mouth.

She cast her eyes down while otherwise expressionless. Her opened lips did not produce simple words. She sang.

It was the hymn Silent Night.

“Stille Nacht Heil’ge Nacht

Alles schlaft einsam wacht

Nur das traute hoch heilige Paar

Holder Knab’im lockigten Haar

Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh

Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh.”

She slowly raised her head.

Once she finished singing, she opened her eyes to find the round moon in the heavens. While watching that light, her expression changed.

“I hate this sky… It has that light that our sky did not. It is not the light of the underworld…”

Brunhild sighed as the moonlight reflected in her eyes.

And then her expression changed once more as if it was jumping up. Her eyebrows leveled out, her eyes sharpened, and the expression from before vanished.

“Here he comes,” she muttered as she reached her right hand into her pocket.

She pulled out a small blue stone and held it tightly in her right hand. She then slowly raised that right hand.

A wind then descended from the night sky. It was a black wind. Like a string or small stream, the black wind whirled around and wrapped about Brunhild’s right hand. It solidified into a single object.

That black wind took the form of a black cat.

This glossy black cat stood atop her right arm.

Brunhild stretched her arm out horizontally as easily as if the cat was weightless. The cat climbed across her arm and onto her right shoulder. Brunhild lowered her arm and the cat climbed down it to the floor.

Immediately afterwards, Brunhild wrote something in the air using her right hand and snapped her fingers.

As soon as that clear sound rang out, the cat looked up. And…

“Ahh, I’m exhausted. It can be hard to tell which is the real me.”

A young male voice came from the cat. Nevertheless, Brunhild remained expressionless.

“We have to keep up appearances so as to avoid suspicion. More importantly, how did it go?”

“As expected, the Royal Palace faction is hopeless. They don’t have the strength of an organization like we do.”

“I did not ask for your impressions. I want a report on the facts.”

Brunhild folded her arms and began tapping her right toes on the floor.

Seeing that, the cat said, “I think you are absorbing some bad habits from Low-Gear. You have such bad manners.”

“Shut it. If you say anything more, I’ll throw you into the room of a classmate who is yearning for a pet.”

“No, I don’t want that… It’s only any fun at first.” The cat hung its head, sighed, and then straightened up once more. “The peaceful faction that sympathizes with UCAT turned away a messenger from the Royal Palace faction. The messenger was a strong member of the Royal Palace faction, a werewolf named Gale-…Gale-something. But he was cornered by UCAT and killed himself.”

“They did that to a werewolf? I know their species gets a lot stupider when their true nature kicks in, but that couldn’t have been easy.”

“Well, the pursuit unit was slaughtered, but the UCAT special division arrived afterwards and trapped him in a Concept Space. Werewolves are a poor match for precious metals when it comes to elemental concepts. Okay, now this.”

The black cat rolled over and showed off its belly. He was asking Brunhild to rub it, so she crouched down and poked his belly with her index finger. The gentle jab caused the cat to arch its back.

“Ahhh! My hips! Not the hips! My guts! I feel some indescribable sensation in my guts!!”

“Stop speaking so oddly and get on with the report. What will we do regarding the peaceful faction and the Royal Palace faction?”

“W-we of the City faction will not contact either side. Fafner who has worked his way up lately made the announcement. …And according to Venerable Hagen, the Royal Palace faction will likely take action out of desperation.”

“The Royal Palace faction will? A group that split from the peaceful faction based on nothing but ideals is planning to attack UCAT? They don’t think they can manage by relying on nothing but youthful vigor like Fafner does, do they?”

“No, they don’t.”

The cat got up and began licking his belly.

While still crouched down, Brunhild said, “Stop acting so self-important and get on with it.”

“C’mon, you don’t have to act like that. We were both deployed here, so we are on equal footing, right? You have been getting a bit carried away lately, Brunhild.”

“Have I?”

“Yes. Just the day before yesterday, I took a peek inside the sweets shop in front of the school and you suddenly had a kid in there strip naked and bow down before you.”

“Do not misrepresent what happened. He flipped up my skirt first. For a woman of 1st-Gear, having anyone but her husband do that is a humiliation. I was crying in my heart as I made him bow down. And I also swore to never forgive that kid.”

“Sorry. My heart must have been too clouded because I could not see any tears. …And is that really such a humiliation?”

Brunhild grabbed the black cat’s back legs in her hands, spread them out in a T-shape, and lifted him up. She then shook him up and down.

“Ahhh! Such humiliation! Stop, stop! If you keep looking at me like this, a new side of me will awaken!”

“As long as you understand.”

She put the cat back down. The cat dragged his limp waist along and forced a smile.

“E-every day with you is quite stimulating. Although becoming numb to stimulation is a sign your life is over.”

“Just finish with the report before I decide to do something else.”

“Hmm,” thought the cat. “Do you remember the Leviathan Road? That thing Venerable Hagen mentioned.”

“Yes. That information he got from a strange information broker, right? …We had predicted it ourselves as well. On December 25 of this year, the activation of the negative concepts of this Gear will reach the critical point.”

“Yes, and so we must take back the other half of 1st-Gear’s Concept Core from UCAT and stop the activation of the negative concepts as part of 1st-Gear. …And UCAT is trying to do the same but with themselves in charge. Anyway…the Leviathan Road is an attempt by UCAT to obtain all of the Concept Cores. But…”

“?”

“It seems a unit put together just for that purpose has begun to move. It was apparently that unit that cornered the messenger of the Royal Palace faction. It is known as Team Leviathan and was created from the top elites of UCAT’s special division.”

“What is your point?’

“You can’t tell? Some higher members of UCAT are involved with this unit. And so the Royal Palace faction will target Team Leviathan instead of UCAT as a whole. If they could capture Ooshiro Kazuo, the head of Japanese UCAT, they might gain a significant advantage in negotiations.”

Brunhild stood up, folded her arms, and slowly moved her head down.

“Hmm,” she murmured as the black cat looked up at her.

“But… Hey, Brunhild, were you singing before I arrived?”

“Eh?” Brunhild looked down at the cat and finally spoke without changing her expression. “I was not singing.”

“Really? I seem to remember hearing it on the wind. You, Venerable Regin, and Lady Gutrune loved that Low-Gear man’s-…”

“Do cats show sentimentality by speaking of things they know nothing about?”

“I am being serious here, Brunhild. In a way, you were the person in the closest position to the cause of 1st-Gear’s destruction.”

“…”

“It bothers me that, as our fight approaches its end, you are here,” the cat slowly lay down, “observing the man who destroyed 1st-Gear. It seems to me that would be bad for your mental health.”

Brunhild’s eyebrows arched slightly, her lips formed a smile that was not quite bitter, and she crouched down to pet the cat’s back.

“Am I really that on edge?”

“You were earlier. When Miss Feigned Ignorance stopped by, you were legitimately mad when you mentioned how much you love forests and she replied by mentioning celery.”

Brunhild dug through her memories before replying.

With a serious expression, she said, “That is because I hate celery.”

“…”

“I can’t stand Chinese chives or mitsuba either. Whenever I order udon at the cafeteria, I ask for no mitsuba, but Old Tome always legitimately forgets and puts it in. …And that old woman is too cute to complain to.”

“It doesn’t really matter, but I think you are building up too much stress from little things.”

“Oh? I am not building up stress at all.”

“Really? Then how are you relieving-…no, ah!! Stop, stop! Not the ass! The ass is the last place I want-…!”

Once Brunhild rendered the cat unable to stand, she stood up.

She walked over to the north edge of the rooftop where she could see level scenery with the lights of houses and buildings in the distance.

Headlights could be seen running along the roads within the school grounds, but that was the only movement.

She looked straight down and spotted light falling on the grass behind the school building. The light came from the first floor hallway in front of the Kinugasa Library. She could see a single shadow moving through that horizontal line of lights.

“Siegfried…” she muttered. “What would he do if he knew a ghost from 60 years ago had returned?”

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_5|Chapter 5]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_7|Chapter 7]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 5

2016-01-16T03:14:40Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 5: Notification of Ignorance */ consistency edit

==Chapter 5: Notification of Ignorance==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0155.png|thumb]]
''What exactly is the enemy?

''History? People? Common sense?

''Or is it all of them?

Every sense in his body was telling him the window to the office floor below his feet was the ground. His left arm that hurt when he moved it was naturally hanging down toward the window. He used his right hand to touch the hem of his clothes and it was hanging down toward his feet as well.

“What is going on?” asked Sayama. “I do not know if you have the technology to control gravity or not, but this is strange. Why are only the things I am touching viewing the direction of my feet as down?”

He looked up toward the hangar above his head. Diagonal slopes had been built in places to connect the walls and ceiling. The area was arranged so that large equipment and that trailer could freely move about.

Sayama looked back down. Shinjou’s gaze met his from where she stood perpendicular to him.

“Shinjou-kun, excuse me, but I would like to try something.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou as she took a step toward him.

Sayama nodded and took her hand.

However, Shinjou remained standing on what was the wall to Sayama.

“So you do not fall this way.”

“D-don’t try such dangerous things.”

“I was prepared to catch you. Do not worry.”

“I’m not sure if I can…”

Ooshiro gave a bitter smile and said, “Unless you jump into the air, what is set as the ground will be constantly updated for you. In other words, the world always exists below your feet in this space. The concept related to gravitational pull has been altered.”

“I see,” said Sayama as he let go of Shinjou’s hand. He looked toward Ooshiro and continued, “What exactly is this power?”

“Let me ask you something instead, Mikoto-kun. How do you think you could explain this power? What if you met with academics and intellectuals from around the world and asked them what power can alter the world so conveniently?”

“They would say it is a trick.”

“Exactly. However, this is the truth. Now, another question. …What basis would they use for determining this is a trick?”

“That is obvious. This breaks the laws of physics.”

“Yes, yes. Indeed it does. Light is bent by gravity, but with this power, light only bends according to the direction set as the ground for it. Even if the real ground is in a different direction. But Mikoto-kun, when you talk about the laws of physics, what world’s physical laws do you speak of?”

“This world’s physical laws.”

“Then let me ask you something else. If alternate worlds did exist, on what basis would we determine they are different from our own? The terrain? The atmosphere? The life forms? Or perhaps the culture?”

With that question, Sayama realized the answer to it all.

He finally said, “Is this what you want to say? There was a world with physical laws fundamentally different from our own. And this power we are seeing follows that world’s laws!”

“Precisely. This world’s physical laws cannot be applied to other worlds. A world with different physical laws will naturally overturn the very basics of the physical laws we know.”

“But there have to be certain absolutes, right? Like the motion of light.”

“No, no. Even that is based on this world’s physical laws. When light is emitted, it spreads and continues on. But why does it do that? Why can’t there be light that does not do that?”

“That is…”

“That is simply what light is in this world, right? But,” Ooshiro took a step forward so their gazes would match perpendicularly, “what if light being that way was actually quite rare?”

“…”

“We only know how things work in this world. We assume the workings of this world are absolute. But what if there were a great number of other worlds and it turned out the rules of this world are great exceptions compared to the other worlds?”

“But we do not know of any other worlds, so we can only assume they would be the same as us.”

A bitter smile appeared on Ooshiro’s lips when he heard that response.

“True,” the old man said. “But another world is another world. They are fundamentally different. What we think is simply ‘how things are’ and what the other worlds think is simply ‘how things are’ are fundamentally different.”

“Are you saying,” Sayama looked down at his feet, “there is a world where this is how gravity works?”

Ooshiro nodded, walked over to the opposite window, and stood on it. He looked straight up toward Sayama.

“The ten other worlds and this world are perceived as individual gears and so we refer to them as such. 1st-Gear through 10th-Gear all had their own unique characteristics. And do you know what we called this power of ‘how things are’?” Without waiting for an answer, Ooshiro said, “Concepts. We called them concepts! They are a power that can control even the laws of physics. They are the ultimate reason behind everything. That is what concepts are!”

Sayama gulped at Ooshiro’s words and looked down toward his feet and then around his entire surroundings.

“In other words, the concept of ‘your feet are on the ground’ is being used to make efficient use of this small underground space? …Was that voice I heard upon entering the concept?”

“That was a Concept Text. It is made by gathering inferior reproductions of an extracted concept. Each individual concept is very weak, but it can be heard as a voice once it reaches the level of a Concept Text. This space also has several weaker concepts added on as well, but they cannot be heard as a voice.” He continued. “When an out of phase space has concepts added to it, it is known as a Concept Space. We think of a concept’s identity as a variable fixed-period vibration wave that we call a string vibration.”

“This just got a lot more complicated. A string vibration, you say?”

Sayama thought.

Ooshiro had said an alternate world was a world with different concepts. In that case…

“So alternate worlds are worlds with different string vibration frequencies?”

“Yes. And everything in any of the worlds has a string vibration for their world and a string vibration for the object itself. The one for the world we call the parent string vibration and the one for the individual we call the child string vibration.”

Sayama nodded and said, “So is it like a numerator and denominator? The denominator tells you what Gear they belong to and the numerator tells you what the individual is.”

“Yes. If the numerator differs, it is a different individual. If the denominator differs, it may be the same existence but from a different world. These alternate worlds are not parallel. They exist in multiple phases atop each other. According to the records, a ‘gate’ that alters one’s parent string vibration is needed to move to and from different Gears.”

Sayama then recalled the invisible wall surrounding the forest.

“This evening…was that a space that’s parent string vibration had been completely altered?”

“Not quite. If its parent string vibration had been completely altered, that space would have completely disappeared from this world. But,” Ooshiro raised his index finger, “what if only a portion of its parent string vibration was altered?”

“In that case, would the altered objects world split into two existences? The real one and the alternate world one would exist on top of each other at the same time. …And that means the objects would not disappear from reality.”

He remembered the stone he had picked up in the forest. He remembered how it had left a pale shadow behind.

“So two versions of that forest existed on top of each other? I am guessing a smaller portion had the alternate world string vibration than the reality string vibration. Could I not leave because of the difference in vibration density?”

“Correct. How very wise of you. That is what we call a Concept Space. It is only a pseudo-alternate world created by borrowing a portion of an area’s string vibration. Since it is still connected to the real world, it is easier to create and return to normal.” As he spoke, Ooshiro showed off the watch on his left arm. “I gave you one of these before we entered this Concept Space. These watches are known as String Watches. They detect the wall of a Concept Space and alter the wearer’s parent string vibration accordingly. They are a small version of the ‘gates’ I mentioned earlier.”

“But how did I enter the Concept Space in the forest without one?”

“Someone secretly read your child string vibration. When the forest was turned into a Concept Space, your string vibration was registered so you would be allowed in. That is one thing that can be done when creating a Concept Space. And I apologize,” said Ooshiro as he looked toward Sayama’s left arm. “It seems we rushed things. We only wanted to let you experience it for yourself, but you ended up getting injured due to the inexperience of our units.”

“But it was thanks to that experience that I met Shinjou-kun and am having this conversation now.”

When he said that, Shinjou looked over from her perpendicular position with a troubled expression.

Sayama responded with a bitter smile.

“Come on down now,” instructed Ooshiro.

Sayama nodded and walked down to the passageway where Shinjou stood.

Ooshiro did so as well and looked up at the ceiling.

“Could we return just the inside of the passageway?”

The watch on Sayama’s left arm vibrated.

In the next moment, the surrounding scenery changed. The floors on either side became empty spaces.

Not only were the office desks and maintenance equipment gone, but the materials making up the walls and ceiling were gone too.

They were simply vast, dark areas without even any lights.

“This is what this underground space normally looks like. Everyone does their work in the Concept Space.”

Sayama placed a foot on the window.

However, he no longer felt any power attracting the bottom of his foot to the window.

He also realized the wrench that had fallen to the floor was gone.

They had returned to reality.

Sayama let out a breath and looked around the empty space.

If he paid very close attention, he could make out the faint shadows of people, desks, and machinery.

Sayama then recalled the battle in the forest.

“What happens if something is destroyed in a Concept Space?”

“An object’s string vibration is the concept of its very existence. If a portion of that existence concept is destroyed, no portion of the object itself is destroyed. However, its existence percentage drops. If only a dozen or so percent is used, being destroyed once will not lead to the actual object’s destruction. However…”

“If an object is taken in and destroyed again and again, will the damage eventually reach the original? But I suppose that is quite a bit better than simply destroying a portion of the world. Can humans split apart so only a portion is sent into the Concept Space? That would avoid dying in one.”

“It can be done, but we don’t. As it is only a portion, something inside a Concept Space is an inferior version of the original. The object must rely on the information from the instant of being taken into the space, so its life force is weak and it has no ability to alter the future. …You could say the objects have no ability to grow and simply ‘act’ before being destroyed. That is why it is difficult to maintain a Concept Space for long. If it is not released quickly, everything inside will destroy themselves.”

“Is that why there were no animals in the Concept Space?”

“When choosing the structural elements of a Concept Space, we do our best to only use terrain that does not move on its own. That also reduces the amount of data needed. …Although if you insist that plants are living things too, I have no argument for you.” Ooshiro gave a bitter smile. “And anything that will actually take an active role within has 100% of itself sent inside so that it will not destroy itself. That is what we did with the UCAT Concept Space I just showed you. An empty area is turned into a Concept Space and all of the equipment is brought in from outside. The air conditioning, water pipes, and other things that circulate were tricky.”

Hearing that, Sayama looked through the windows on either side and into the empty spaces beyond. A dark atmosphere seemed to fall over him.

“I see. So shedding blood cannot be avoided. Just out of curiosity, how much of something’s existence percentage must be destroyed before the object itself can no longer exist?”

“At least 50%. If more than 50% of an object’s existence is destroyed, it will be annihilated. The forest Concept Space was created by accessing about 20% of its string vibration. If the same Concept Space was created three times and the forest was destroyed each time, its existence destruction would reach 60%. That would lead to the real forest being destroyed in some natural way. I cannot say if it would be landslide, a forest fire, or a simple disappearance, but that would be its fate.”

Sayama thought on Ooshiro’s words.

And then he frowned.

“Are you trying to say this kind of thing has actually happened before?”

“I will leave it to your imagination what might have caused the natural disasters that occasionally happen around the world. But can you guess where these rules lead us to?”

Sayama recalled one of the first terms he had been told here.

“You mentioned the Concept War before. Is that it?”

Ooshiro nodded.

“If a Gear loses over 50% of its concepts, it will be destroyed. The Concept War took the form of stealing each other’s concepts.”

“So the concepts were extracted and stolen from each Gear… Is that what you are saying?”

“Yes. And the concepts of each Gear were taken to this world in the form of a Concept Core that has even greater density than a Concept Text. In other words, all the other Gears had their concepts stolen which destroyed them.”

“I see,” responded Sayama. “Is it possible to create a new concept?”

“Let me just say that it was researched at one time. There were…no successes. All we can do is make inferior reproductions. That is why a Concept Core is needed as a master for creating Concept Texts.” Ooshiro smiled, spread his arms, and looked out across the floors to the right and left. “Do you understand now? Your grandfather was a part of UCAT once it was formed after the war. UCAT fought the ten Gears with different concepts and destroyed them all by taking their concepts. And currently, our primary mission is to protect, negotiate with, stop the terrorist attacks of, and conceal the existence of the refugees of the other Gears. However…”

“However?”

Ooshiro smiled slightly at that question. He paused for a few seconds before replying. The conversation finally arrived at what Sayama’s grandfather had left him.

“This last remaining Gear is known as Low-Gear because it has nothing. And it is currently facing a crisis. As the victors of the Concept War, we must overcome this crisis by negotiating with the survivors of the ten other Gears and having them cooperate with us.” He took a breath. “That is the Leviathan Road. …And your grandfather said to give you the right to be the representative of Low-Gear.”

A certain staircase could be seen at night.

The green painted wall and the white steps were illuminated by the light positioned above the emergency exit at the top of the stairs.

The staircase was located in the second year general school building of Taka-Akita Academy. It led up to the rooftop.

Two sets of footsteps could be heard walking up the stairs.

The two figures unhesitatingly ascending were a human and an animal.

The human was a girl with swaying gray hair and wearing a blazer. The animal was a black cat.

It was Brunhild, the head of the art club, and her black cat.

The footsteps quickly reached the top of the staircase. The door was unlocked and then opened.

With the sound of wind whipping into the building, the two figures dashed outside.

They were not met by the darkness of night.

They saw light.

“…!”

Brunhild stopped moving. She looked up expressionlessly into the sky.

It was bright. After exiting the dark staircase, she was faced with the bluish-white moon floating in the sky.

As she stood on the rooftop, the vast night sky and the moon could be seen overhead.

And the wind of the night blew about.

The feel of the breeze led Brunhild to spread her arms and take in a deep breath.

''Such cold air,'' she thought while brining that air into her lungs.

“This Gear is filled with so many unnecessary things,” she commented.

She placed her right hand in her uniform pocket and pulled out a single object.

She held a small blue stone the size of her fingertip between the index finger and middle finger of her right hand.

While holding the stone, she rotated her arms. She held her left arm forward and her right arm back.

The black cat at her feet jumped up onto her left arm.

Brunhild moved her right hand. She made a fist and wrote something in the air using the thumb. And then…

“We were delayed by that intrusion, but you have work to do,” she said expressionlessly before snapping the fingers of her right hand.

With a clear note, the cat’s form changed. It bent and came apart as if made of thread.

“Now, go. Notify us of our hated enemy’s condition and inform our comrades of the situation. You are the tidings carried by the black wind.”

After coming apart, the black cat became wind.

A black wind.

Leaving her left sleeve rippling, the black streak of wind danced through the nighttime wind and shot to the west. It waved, stretched, occasionally accelerated, arced, and then arced back as it soared through the night sky.

Brunhild watched the wind leave before lowering her arms. She opened her expressionless mouth and spoke.

“They are beginning to take action, so the time has come for us to respond… We were the first of the Gears to be destroyed. It is time we stopped hiding.” She nodded. “The survivors of 1st-Gear must stop hiding!”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_6|Chapter 6]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 2

2016-01-16T03:13:05Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 2: The Two Meet */ consistency edit

==Chapter 2: The Two Meet==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0065.png|thumb]]
''A scream of rejection led to their meeting

''So which one did she really want?

When Sayama came out onto the road down below, he tilted his head in confusion alone on the sidewalk.

The cell phone in his hand would not turn on.

He had checked the battery when leaving his dorm, but now the LCD screen was dark. He shook it lightly, but nothing changed. He thought it might have to do with the signal, so he crossed the two-lane road to reach the sidewalk on the valley side, but this also did nothing. He removed and put back in the general-purpose battery that worked in all small IAI devices, but to no avail.

“What is going on?” he muttered.

But then he recalled the strange voice he had heard not long before.

As he had been travelling down the slope, he had heard a single voice.

—'''Precious metals possess power.

This had not been a reverberating voice amplified with a megaphone. It had been like a whisper from headphones he was wearing. However, a look around had had not shown any equipment that could have produced the noise.

And now his cell phone would not function.

He put the phone back in his pocket in confusion. According to his memory, he should reach several restaurants along the road if he walked a bit further. He decided to use a phone at one of them. Wondering what time it was, he glanced down at his watch.

“It’s stopped…”

His watch had stopped. The hour hand, minute hand, and second hand were all motionless.

He frowned and put a hand in his pocket. He pulled out a digital recorder with the IAI mark on it. It was stick-shaped and the top had a red start button.

He pressed it.

However, the recorder did not respond. He remembered fully charging its general-purpose battery as well.

While wondering what all this meant, Sayama realized something else. He looked around the area and then up into the trees of the forest.

“There is no sign of anyone.”

Not many cars used this road. However, not a single one had passed by in the time he had spent climbing down the slope. On top of that, he could not see a single bird among all the trees.

Suddenly, Sayama recalled that the train had returned to Shiromaru. He wondered what had happened.

And then he heard the sound of something being struck in the distance.

The sound had come from the tree-covered slope leading down from the road and to a river.

“That was a tree collapsing.”

He looked and spotted a single distant tree on the slope that had begun to tilt. It was a cedar. The silhouette that resembled a green leaf-covered spire leaned up against the nearby trees and then collapsed.

After seeing that, Sayama moved his gaze west toward the sun setting behind Okutama.

After confirming that was his destination, he nodded.

But then he heard another noise. And this time it was not the cracking of a falling tree.

It was a scream.

“…”

Sayama instinctually raised his head.

He had definitely heard that distant, high-pitched voice. For an instant, strength filled his body, but then he stopped.

He took a breath, frowned, and thought.

He did not think for long. He only needed to remember his past. Just a single memory. He remembered when his mother had brought him into these mountains by car.

“So it is always me who is unable to keep his promises to meet someone…”

He took another breath and brought his hand to the left of his chest. A slight ache from the past lay there, but he suppressed it with his breathing.

He opened his eyes.

The crimson-dyed sky lay before his eyes. Seeing that color, Sayama nodded and began moving.

“Okay.”

He turned toward the valley-side forest below. His right hand loosened his necktie while his left shoulder slipped out of his coat in an instant. By the time the coat left his right shoulder, he had already stepped atop the guardrail on the sidewalk.

He took a step.

His footstep sounded lightly as he used the guardrail as a stepping stone to propel him into the air. As the coat still on his right arm flapped about, it created a solid noise as it struck his back. At that same moment, his feet landed on the underbrush of the slope.

He began walking.

His pace was much faster than when he moved down to the road earlier. He lowered his hips to almost slide down the slope.

The sun had already started to set in the western sky that was hidden by the trees.

Once it grew dark, the forest would be dangerous.

He had to hurry. He lowered his hips even further to rush down the slope.

He entered the forest and ran between the trees. His destination was the tree that had fallen earlier.

Sayama ran straight there while treading on old, dry branches.

He was not out of breath as he had a habit of running every evening.

However, running on such bad terrain and the faint tension he felt did noticeably raise his body temperature. Even so, there was one part of his body he felt no heat in.

That was his left fist. It alone felt cold.

“Ha,” gasped Sayama in what was not quite a breath and not quite a laugh.

He was only about a dozen meters from his destination. He could hear a flowing river through the forest.

He could see several depressions that had once been small streams along the ground. He jumped over them as he ran and raised his head.

Between the trees, Sayama saw the setting sun sinking behind Okutama’s mountain range. Dusk would arrive in less than 10 minutes. The forest would grow very dark.

''Hurry,'' Sayama called to himself.

He then spotted some small lights. They were near the tree he was running toward. Light was reflecting off of something scattered across the ground.

…''Did a hiker leave some trash behind?

But he immediately rejected that idea. A hiker would not come this far to throw their trash away. They would do so near the trail or river.

He put up his guard. He stopped next to the light on the ground and looked down. He saw…

“Metal?”

Black metal fragments were scattered primarily around the southern side of a large tree.

And the fallen tree he had seen before was about five trees south of it. A cedar tree just barely too wide to reach around had fallen and the break was visible from here.

Sayama looked over at that break where that loud noise had come from before.

“That is…”

He frowned and fell silent.

The tree had been sliced at about a meter up from the ground.

It was a clean diagonal slice. About four-fifths of the trunk’s diameter had been sliced through in a single blow without leaving any woodchips or sawdust at the base of the tree. The cracking sound Sayama had heard must have been the remaining fifth breaking.

He smelled a slight odd scent. It stank of something burning. He looked again and noticed a slight charring around the cut.

Sayama took a step forward to go check out the cut.

But his right foot trod on something hard.

He looked down and lifted up his foot.

Sayama recognized what he found. It was a short tube made of the same material as the metal fragments scattered around the area.

“A gun barrel.”

…''This is longer than the ones I have seen while staying at the Tamiya household. Perhaps it is not for a pistol.

With that thought, Sayama checked the ground once more.

He found some new information there.

They were footprints. And three different kinds.

The first was fairly old. They were large and had a mountain boot type of pattern.

The second was smaller but had a similar pattern to the first.

And the third was very strange and seemed to trample over the others. These odd footprints were easily over 30 centimeters long and had holes as if from spikes where the toes should have been.

The information did not end there. An intermittent trail of dark wet spots approached from the south.

Those wet spots continued to the tree behind Sayama.

As Sayama held his breath and did not turn around, he felt a slight sensation fall on his left shoulder.

It felt as if someone had tapped on his shoulder, so he looked over.

A single dark spot could be seen on the fabric that had been dyed light red by the setting sun.

What was that?

As if in response, another one fell on his shoulder.

It came from above.

And in the next moment…

“…!”

Sayama unhesitatingly ran forward, to the west, and toward the river he could hear.

He did not check what was above him. He already knew what it was.

If he had looked up, his footing would have been uncertain and he would have been unable to move. That instant would have put him in danger.

He had never been in danger before. And that was why Sayama began to run.

…''Something is in that tree!

The instant he was sure of that, he heard something drop to the ground behind him. It was the sound of two legs landing. Two legs supporting something large. He could hear the feet sinking into the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a voice shot past Sayama and through the forest. It was a beast’s roar. A howl.

…''Is it a bear?

But he denied that possibility. This beast had killed its prey, carried that prey into the tree, and then waited for Sayama to notice the corpse before attacking from above. The first set of footprints belonged to the victim in the tree. The second set had likely fallen for that trap.

Sayama would have been the third victim, but only the second to fall for that strategy.

…''Beasts do not use strategies like that. Only people do.

The howl from behind him had been that of a beast, yet…

“If this thing has a human intellect, I should handle it like a human.”

As if pursuing those words spoken toward the ground, footsteps approached Sayama from behind.

They were fast.

Those footsteps were as deep as a bass drum and each step covered as much ground as Sayama covered in five. However, Sayama did not turn around. He focused only on not slowing his pace.

He refused to turn around. What he needed was distance, not curiosity.

The sound of the river up ahead was growing louder.

He could see light. The ground sloped sharply downwards. Ahead, he could see a rocky river bank covered in the dim light of dusk.

Once he arrived there, he would be able to see his opponent. He might also spot someone there.

Just as Sayama began to wonder if he could call for help, he noticed something odd up ahead.

He noticed the movement of the air spreading out ahead of him and a slight haze of light.

A single obstacle was covering the entire edge of the forest on the slope just above the river. It was…

“A wall!?”

The wind ahead of him was still. And the light of dusk had grown slightly hazy.

He would arrive at this supposed wall in another three seconds.

The heavy footsteps were still approaching from behind.

Should he run directly into the wall or not? In fact, did this wall even exist or not?

How could he check?

A single idea came to Sayama. He slowed his pace slightly.

Once he arrived at the supposed wall, he turned his back. It was as if he had been cornered.

He could see a shadow charging toward him.

That shadow resembled a human. The large figure was over two meters tall. Its entire body was covered in black animal hair, but torn black cloth could be seen at its waist and chest.

Its face was visible above its thick chest.

Its face resembled a dog. Below the pointed ears were two golden eyes and a red slit of a mouth.

…''Is this what you call a werewolf?

He thought that idea was crazy, but only for an instant. The truth lay before his eyes.

And so he needed to move. Amid the dim light, Sayama brought both arms down and his hips back. His opponent likely thought he was ducking down. However, Sayama was using the right hand hidden in his coat to search behind him.

In what should have been empty space, he felt resistance

It was a wall. The sensation he felt through the coat reminded him of a rough eggshell. The coat molded into the shape of that wall, so he could tell it had no gaps.

The enemy came immediately thereafter.

Sayama threw his head back to show off his throat.

The enemy’s right claws were swung down. It was trying to cut off his head as it passed by. It opened its mouth and bared its fangs.

It let out a cry, but…

“Silence,” said Sayama as he dropped his hips down along the wall.

The werewolf’s claws cut through empty air.

Its giant body then slammed face-first into the invisible wall.

This caused a great sound of impact.

It sounded less like flesh being struck and more like a car crashing. The werewolf’s entire body was knocked back by a repelling force. It flew through the air, rotated once, and caused a tremor in the earth where it landed. It then rolled.

The sounds of the beast’s breaths mixed in with the sound of it rolling.

Sayama was almost lying down on the ground and he realized the chest of his vest had been torn.

“That was valuable,” he complained as he stood up and filled his lungs with air.

It did not seem the werewolf had lost consciousness. However, it was lying on the ground with its chest moving up and down as it gasped for breath. It did not seem to know what had happened. The wall may have been unexpected for it as well.

…''Or it simply might not have known where it was.

Sayama began running once more. He had to find a means of defeating the werewolf before it came to its senses. To remain in the werewolf’s blind spot as much as possible, he ran along the edge of the invisible wall. He ran west. This was upstream of the river to his left. After running across a few gentle slopes, he could no longer see the werewolf.

“The meeting time will probably have passed before long,” muttered Sayama as he looked down at his watch.

The silver hands were still not moving.

''What is going on?'' he thought.

And then he noticed a slight light beyond the wall.

It was a vehicle’s headlights.

A red RV was parked about 20 meters ahead on the rocky river bank. It was likely a family on a spring break outing. He could see the family around the RV folding up parasols and leisure tables. The family was made up of a middle-aged couple, a young girl, and her even younger brother. The RV’s headlights were pointed up the slope toward Sayama.

“Hey! You need to leave! It is-…”

He trailed off before he could say “dangerous”.

Something was strange.

The family he had shouted at continued their preparations to leave without paying him any heed.

…''Did they not hear me?

“Hey!!” he shouted while standing in the middle of the headlights where they could see him. However, they did not notice him.

…''Can they not see or hear me?

Sayama took in a deep breath and let it out. He placed a hand on the invisible wall before him and once more muttered, “This has become very odd.” And as Sayama watched on, the family climbed aboard the RV.

After a short pause, it drove off of the rocky river bank. It was headed…

“Up this slope.”

Sayama ran. If he was remembering right, the main road above had a few mountain roads leading down to the river. If the invisible wall to his left extended as far as the road the family was using, the RV would strike the wall from the outside.

What would happen then?

He climbed up the slope and found the road.

The branches of the trees above seemed to create a natural tunnel over the mountain road. The dirt road was about three meters across. Sayama stood atop the bulge in the center created by the ruts on either side.

As he wiped sweat from his brow, the RV’s headlights reached him.

Sayama took a step back while in the center of that light.

However, the family showed no sign of noticing him. The RV continued to approach at the same speed.

…''The wall.

They passed right through it. However, the RV changed.

It became a pale shadow.

It was so thin that the scenery beyond it was easily visible through it. The people inside were the same.

“…!?”

As Sayama stood in the center of that mountain road, the pale shadow of the RV passed through him. He only felt a slight shadow. It produced no wind or sound.

Sayama let out a sigh without even turning around.

“What is going on?”

…''That RV will likely drive up to the main road and eventually drive beyond the invisible wall once more.

And what lay beyond that wall was of course the everyday world.

It was only this space that was twisted. He was sure of that now.

Sayama suddenly crouched down. He spotted a nearby stone on the ground.

He picked it up.

Sayama then looked at the spot where the stone had been. A faint shadow the exact shape of the stone lay there.

It was so faint he could not see it without paying very careful attention.

Sayama replaced the stone and muttered, “Are the objects in this space the actual objects? Or are they the shadows?”

He did not know.

Sayama shook his head lightly and stopped arguing about it in his head. His current priorities lay elsewhere.

He took a breath. But then he froze in place.

He had heard a noise. He had heard heavy footsteps and a small cry in the distance.

The cry was the same voice as the scream from earlier.

“That person is still alive,” muttered Sayama as he looked forward.

He saw a slope. It was the slope he had climbed to distance himself from his enemy.

However, he took in a deep breath and began running down that very same slope.

Dusk was already turning to night.

Night also enveloped the near-deserted school.

In the 2nd year general school building of Taka-Akita Academy, Ooki was in charge of locking up for the night. She was on the western edge of the first floor hallway. Specifically, in front of the emergency exit.

Kinugasa Library was located on the same floor. About four classrooms-length of the hallway had been turned into a storage area.

“What is this, a lawless zone?”

The large Kinugasa Library took up the length of four classrooms and the hallway had not escaped the power of its books. Bookshelves and other shelves were lined up along the walls of the hallway and towers of books were piled up here and there. To make it as far as she had, Ooki had been forced to weave around and jump over the piles of books. The hallway had become a sort of labyrinth.

No books or shelves were located near the emergency exit at the back, but that was only because the books and shelves were often brought in through it.

Ooki turned the key for the emergency exit to lock it. For an instant, she caught a glimpse to the east through the emergency door’s window. The eastern mountains were outlined in crimson, but the sky above created a gradation from purple to black.

“I hope this is okay…” she muttered before turning her back on the window.

She did not want to stay in that deserted labyrinth of books for long. While kicking a few books out of the way, Ooki made her way through the four classrooms-length area on her way to the central lobby.

''This tight skirt makes it hard to walk at times like this,'' she thought.

The hallway’s fluorescent lights felt overly bright because of the shallow darkness of night she could see out of the northern window between two bookshelves. Her reflection in the window showed a bandage on the forehead. That was where Sayama had flicked her.

“That boy did not hold back. …It would be best if I assume that’s just how much he adores me.”

Just as she muttered that, a door opened to the side.

“!”

She gasped and turned around. As she did, her heel caught on a pile of books and she fell backwards.

“…Ah!”

Her legs flew up and her head fell to the floor…or it would have. However…

“My apologies,” said a low and relaxed male voice as a black gloved hand caught her falling back.

As soon as she realized she was being supported, her vision rotated around vertically.

[[Image:OnC_v01_0083.png|thumb]]

Her feet were brought to the ground and she stood on her own.

“…”

Ooki did not quite understand what had happened. Only the word “rotation” floated up in her mind.

“Um…” she muttered as she looked up at whose hand was supporting her waist. “Siegfried-san?”

“Are you okay?”

It was a tall elderly man who answered with that question. His broad-shouldered frame was contained in a white shirt, a black vest, and black trousers. He was bald, had a white beard, and his blue eyes were looking down at her.

Siegfried silently removed his right hand from her waist and brought the white cup in his left hand to his mouth. The aroma that reached Ooki told her it was coffee.

Ooki bowed while trying not to be too distracted by that scent.

“Th-thank you very much. What was that where I spun around?”

“It is similar to what you call aikido in Japan. More importantly, I am glad you are okay. Are you locking up?” asked Siegfried before his gaze moved to Ooki’s forehead. “I apologize for asking so many questions, but what is that bandage?”

“Oh, just something I received from a student earlier.”

“School violence? We cannot have that. I will teach this student a form of punishment passed down for generations. No matter how stubborn they may be, they will confess to being a filthy witch in just one blow.”

“Why is everyone around me like this?” muttered Ooki under her breath before shaking her hand from side to side. “No, no. This boy worked his way up quite high in karate, so I think this was unintentional. Also,” she scratched at her head, “it was done with mutual understanding between teacher and student. I was perfectly fine with it.”

“I see. Then I have no right to speak out against it. …I suppose everyone has their own preferences.”

“Oh, um… I am not sure I would put it that way, but whatever. What are you doing here, Siegfried-san?”

Siegfried pulled a single piece of paper from his breast pocket. He took another sip from his cup and then spoke.

“Some people needed help finding some data. Part of my job is providing help for those searching for data. Could you perhaps help me? There is a book titled ‘The First Plutonium’ somewhere in this hallway.”

“No, no, no, no, no,” said Ooki as she took a step back.

With a word of parting, she bowed and walked out to the central lobby that was actually quite small. She climbed the stairs to lock up on the second and third floors.

From the central lobby, it became clear how dark the school building was even with the fluorescent lights. The building was designed to only be used during the day.

“How scary,” sighed Ooki as she turned on the lights for the stairs.

The light green staircase lit up, but the white fluorescent lights felt somehow cold.

She then heard Siegfried say, “I already locked up the second floor. If you trust me, you can skip it.”

“I trust you!” she replied thankfully to the man who was hidden from view by a corner of the hallway.

She then headed on up.

She knew that the six general education school buildings and the faculty building had been built before the war.

“The library was built like that by the founder, Kinugasa Tenkyou.”

It had originally been prepared as the research archive for Izumo Aviation Institute’s General Tokyo Facility that was being built at the time. However, Taka-Akita Academy had been born as a means of creating skilled future personnel.

Ooki thought about the staircase she was currently walking up.

“This was built over 70 years ago…”

Her footsteps sounded loudly as she made it to the second floor. She left the central lobby and looked down the hallway.

She saw only darkness. And beyond that darkness was the music room to the west and the emergency exit to the east. However…

“I trust him…”

She backed up toward the staircase.

Ooki’s shoulders drooped as she sighed and turned on the lights for the staircase up to the third floor. She quickly made her way up.

Once on the third floor, she found darkness once more.

As if plunging her head into the darkness, Ooki stood in the central lobby and looked toward the art room to the west and then the emergency exit to the east. She could see the emergency exit light in the distance.

“Nnn,” she groaned as she turned on the lights to the hallway. The fluorescent lights came on one after another and lit up the area. However, the windows and glass on the classroom doors grew darker.

Ooki stood in the center of the hallway and scratched at her head.

“Well, I have no choice…”

Her shoulders drooped, her head drooped, and she sighed.

She headed east while meaninglessly walking as silently as possible.

But then she jumped at a sudden noise from behind.

It was a cat. A single meow had come from the western art room.

“Nyah…?” asked Ooki as if she was about to cry.

She turned toward the art room while taking a cowardly pose.

She forced strength into her shoulders and slowly sent two jabs, a straight, and an uppercut into the air.

“O-okay, come at me.”

She held her breath for a few seconds. After that silence, she spoke quietly once more with her fists still at the ready.

“If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to…”

She received only silence in response. After a while, Ooki lowered her arms and pressed her hands against her legs. Her trembling had not stopped, but it had lessened.

“M-maybe there’s a cat outside,” she muttered while tilting her head and looking in the art room.

At the same moment, light cut through the darkness of the frosted glass on the art room door. It happened twice. This was not a reflection from a car’s headlights. The light cut across horizontally from left to right and disappeared.

“!”

Ooki wrapped her arms around herself and crouched down. After a moment, she reflexively covered her ears with her hands.

“I-it’s okay, it’s okay. Th-that was just a mysterious phenomenon.”

After realizing what she had said, Ooki let out a cry and shrank down even further.

She decided to return to the stairs. It was only about four meters away. She removed her hands from her ears and began crawling on her hands and knees. She kept her gaze down so as not to look at the art room as she took one step and then two.

As she crawled, she realized that she was acting just like a cat. She was still trembling, but she cast down her eyes in shock that she was doing this in her own workplace. She brought her right hand forward in place of a front paw and could not help herself.

“Nyah,” she said.

But she received a sudden response from a cat behind her.

“!”

She jumped forward in shock.

She twisted around as if trying to clean the floor with her butt. With her guard raised as high as it would go, she brought her knees up to form a defensive wall.

And then she saw what had replied to her.

It was a black cat. It was sitting in the spot she had been in a moment before and it was scratching its head with its hind leg. Meanwhile, Ooki was breathing heavily while looking at the cat with her hands on the floor behind her.

The black cat simply seemed to be relaxing, but she was fairly certain it had not been in the hallway a moment before.

She tried to say “when did that get in here?”, but her voice spilled from her mouth more as a breath than as words. She suddenly realized she had tears in her eyes. And…

“Are you okay, sensei?”

This time, she heard a voice from behind her in the art room. It was a girl’s voice.

Ooki gasped and turned around. She slowly looked up.

A single girl was standing there.

The girl wore her uniform like a model showing off the perfect method. Her platinum blonde hair was almost gray and it flowed down her back and to her legs.

She looked down on Ooki with a sharp look in her purple eyes and opened her mouth with no expression on her face.

“I apologize. You are patrolling, aren’t you? I was so focused on my work that I did not notice night had fallen. The soundproofing in here is quite good.”

“You are…”

“Brunhild Schild, a third year student. I will be the head of the general art club this coming year.”

Ooki stopped breathing momentarily when she heard the word “art”. She slowly moved her upward gaze to the west.

The art room was there.

Its door was open.

Ooki confirmed that darkness lay beyond that open door. And then someone grabbed her shoulders.

Brunhild had circled around behind her.

She leaned down as if trying to hold Ooki down.

She brought her small face over Ooki’s shoulder and spoke.

“Would you like to see my painting?”

“Your painting?”

“Yes,” replied Brunhild.

Ooki heard a slight waver in the girl’s tone. And that waver remained as Brunhild continued.

“A painting of a forest. A deep, dark, depthless, yet abundant forest.”

Sayama ran through the nighttime forest. He ran as if stabbing the soles of his feet into the ground. His legs would plunge forward through the air and his feet would come down to trample any obstacle underfoot. That was the absolute rule for running in a dark mountain.

“Who would have thought the harsh training of the Hiba Dojo would come in handy here!?”

He could hear the rustling of the trees and the cracking of someone treading quickly over branches up ahead.

Someone was being chased. Chased by that werewolf.

''Hurry,'' thought Sayama. ''I do not know who made that scream, but I have come for you.

As he urged himself to hurry, he approached those loud footsteps. It took him five steps for every one of theirs. However, the werewolf could only run in a straight line. He focused on efficiently weaving through the trees to gain as much ground as he could.

Sayama thought. Whoever was being pursued by the werewolf likely had their own method of escaping this situation. The cut that had felled that cedar had been too sharp to have been made by the werewolf’s claws. This person must possess some kind of weapon.

“A weapon?” asked Sayama with a bitter smile.

This was Japan. A weapon that destructive would not be allowed anywhere. Nevertheless…

“But this is real. I suppose I have entered a world where I have no choice but to believe the reality before my eyes.”

The source of the footsteps entered his vision. He saw a large back. It was running through the trees ahead.

Sayama reconfirmed that the footsteps and back ahead of him belonged to an enemy.

He had to hurry. He weaved through the trees while skimming as close by their trunks as he could. As he did, he scooped up two stones in each hand. He then held up his right arm so that his coat spread out.

“I suppose I have to say goodbye to this suit today…”

As he spoke, he could now see both the werewolf and the person running from it.

…''A girl?

He saw a single girl running.

She appeared to be about the same age as him. Her long, soft, and black hair danced about as she fled. She wore a white and black outfit that resembled a dress and in her right hand was…

“A fluorescent light?”

She held a white staff almost two meters long. The side of the upper end had a long cylinder attached that looked a lot like a fluorescent light. It produced a slight bluish-white afterglow that lit up the girl.

As the werewolf ran, it stretched out its arm toward the girl. She swung the staff as if to shine the afterglow on the werewolf.

Sayama heard a sound similar to a spray of water and saw the werewolf’s arm repelled.

He did not understand how it worked.

However, the staff the girl held was definitely the weapon Sayama had assumed she had.

As he ran, Sayama suddenly muttered, “Not good.”

He remembered running through this area.

Several depressions that had once been small streams cut across like stitches.

Sayama poured strength into his legs and ran forward.

At the same moment, the girl looked down as she ran.

“…!”

She let out a meaningless gasp and her slender body flew as if it had been struck.

She had not tripped; she had intentionally jumped.

However, the enemy did not overlook this opportunity. It let loose an attack from the left as if scooping its claws up toward the target that had lost her balance in midair.

The girl swung the staff to hold up the afterglow.

But it was too late.

With the sound of cloth tearing, her body was knocked away.

At the same time, a wind blew through, rustling the leaves of the forest.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_1|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_3|Chapter 3]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 1

2016-01-16T03:10:18Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 1: Sayama’s Beginning */ consistency edit

[[Image:OnC_v01_0032-0033.png|thumb]]
''It was probably at that moment

''When that which had been stopped

''Began moving once more

—''To me, trying to find or soothe oneself is nothing more than an illusion.

==Chapter 1: Sayama’s Beginning==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0035.png|thumb]]
''The privilege of those who know themselves

''Is being able to restrict oneself

''There is no more relying on others

Below the blue sky were two rows of blossoming cherry trees.

The road between those two rows led to a cement wall surrounding a large area of land. The stone gatepost at the opening to the west was inscribed with the words “Taka-Akita Academy”.

The schedule posted on the gate read “spring break” and the gate itself sat open with no one to pass through.

Once one passed through the gate, the central road continued with the cherry trees on either side.

These trees were in full bloom as well. Continuing further led to a half hectare general sports ground to the right and a martial arts facility as large as a great hall to the left.

Continuing straight on led not to a school building but to a faculty building.

The school buildings were lined up in all four compass points with the faculty building at the center. This was all one school, but other than the six general school buildings, it was broken down by specialization. To provide a proper environment, some of the school buildings were surrounded by rows of trees, but others had a research plant equipped with a silo or an asphalt course for test driving.

The buildings built very nearby those school buildings were the student dormitories.

This school took up the area that would cover three-fourths of a city. It had a few shopping districts, farms, and factories on the grounds and a lot of the city’s people lived inside it.

And every facility within possessed a certain mark.

It was the mark of IAI, the Izumo Aviation Institute. IAI supported this academy city.

However, the academy was nearly deserted during spring break.

This was even true for the western general school buildings nearest the main gate.

A single figure could be seen at the 2nd year general education building just north of the faculty building.

A boy stood on the 2nd story landing of the emergency staircase.

Despite it being spring break, the boy wore his school uniform, blazer and all, and the buttons of his shirt were buttoned all the way up to the collar.

His hair was slicked back and a single stripe of white could be seen on either side. Below that hair were sharp eyes and a sharp face.

He was looking up into the sky.

Floating in the blue sky were thin white clouds and the shadow of an airplane making a wide curve through the air.

“So the American soldiers at Yokota are not taking a break either. They also prefer high places like me. And they too do not return home even when they have the chance,” he said.

He swung up his left arm and the sleeve slid down. A white scar could be seen on his left fist and he wore a woman’s ring on the middle finger. A silver wristwatch was also revealed on his left wrist. The hands pointed to 2:30 PM.

He pulled a single piece of paper from his pocket.

“Sayama Mikoto-sama. To complete the transfer of rights left with us by your grandfather, the late Sayama Kaoru-shi, we ask that you visit the Okutama IAI General Tokyo Facility on March 30 at 6 PM.”

It was an invitation. That simple text was followed by an IAI map and the name of the one inviting Sayama.

“IAI section chief, Ooshiro Kazuo, hm?”

…''The old man, hm?

When Sayama’s grandfather had died, that elderly man had been the first to come rushing over for the funeral. The tall, gray-haired man always wore a white coat at IAI. The two of them would speak every once in a while and the man seemed to enjoy it when Sayama called him “old man”.

But as Sayama looked at the invitation, he muttered, “My grandfather was a corporate blackmailer, so what rights could he have had at IAI?”

He turned around to find the emergency exit and the wall. The aluminum door was polished, but the wall was dirty with sand and dust. Out of sudden curiosity, he approached the wall and touched it. The sand came off and stuck to his finger.

“Hm…”

Just as he wiped off his finger, the emergency exit moved a bit.

A young woman in personal clothes poked her head out through the slight opening. As the bangs of her short brown hair waved, her blue eyes turned in the direction Sayama had been not long before. “Huh?” she said and tilted her head.

Sayama said, “Over here, Ooki-sensei. You must have a lot of free time to be at school during spring break.”

Hearing that, the woman named Ooki frowned and turned around.

“I was sleeping and-…wait, the same goes for you. Are you trying to fully enjoy your youth by staring into the sky in a place like this? Also, Sayama-kun.”

“What is it? If you have a question, then out with it.”

“Okay, my first question: Why do you speak like that to your teacher?”

“That is my acting style. You lose as soon as you question it, Ooki-sensei. Now, any other questions?”

“Okay, my second question: If I punch a student during spring break does it count as school violence?”

“It does not matter as long as no one finds out. So who are you planning to punch? This must be quite a troublemaker if they can anger you.”

“And my final question: …Have you ever looked in a mirror?”

“I use one for a good long time every day. You really do like asking such obvious questions.”

“I was an idiot to try asking questions to someone filled with such originality. In fact, are you sure that acting style is okay?”

In response to that annoyed comment, Sayama removed his hand from the wall and swiped it forcefully through the air. The cloth of the sleeve let out a noise.

“Do not worry. I act this way to everyone. I intend to head down that path in the future, after all. It may be selfish of me, but I do not want people to say I suddenly started acting full of myself when I grow up. …This may give you some trouble though.”

Ooki’s neck relaxed and she gave a bitter smile at that last line.

“You should probably say that last part to the other teachers as well. Oh, but it seems I will be your homeroom teacher next year as well.”

“So you managed to get one of the best students in your class. Excellent work for a newcomer teacher with little authority.”

“Would you sympathize with me if I told you the other teachers were forcing the excellent but overly individual students on me?”

Sayama placed a hand on Ooki’s shoulder and nodded with a completely serious expression.

“If you seek sympathy, it is all over for you, Ooki-sensei. Although you may be almost there already.”

“Sorry, this is irritating me, so it would be nice if you would stop.” Ooki walked out onto the emergency staircase with her eyes half closed. She scratched at her head and said, “Talking with you really exhausts me. You take everything so seriously.”

Sayama gave a slight smile at that.

“Seriously? I-…”

“You don’t? But you were elected vice president in the student council election and your grades are excellent.”

“True,” said Sayama with a nod. He folded his arms and thought for a bit. Three seconds later, “I have never once gotten serious. …I just can’t make myself want to.”

“…Eh?”

Sayama ignored Ooki’s questioning voice and shrugged.

“Then again, everything I run across in school ends before I even have a chance to get serious. I was once scolded by my grandfather. He told me not to settle for being the ruler of a small place.”

“I see,” said Ooki with a nod. She leaned up against the emergency staircase landing’s railing. “Your grandfather was an amazing person. Compared to him, I can see where you are coming from.”

“Yes. Compared to my grandfather who would give Japan’s economy a nice smack from the shadows, the vice president of this academy city is nothing.”

“It’s more than nothing.”

“But it is true I have never actually tested myself. During the race for vice president, my opponent grew so desperate by the end that he even danced around naked in an attempt to gain more popularity. He was simply no match for me.”

“Were you the one that fired a bottle rocket at his butt while he was performing that nude dance?”

“No, that was Izumo while he was crushing everyone else in the presidential race. He even used a metal pipe as a gun barrel to increase his accuracy. Not something you would expect of a third year.”

“In that case, I won’t ask who blew up the stage afterwards…”

“That would be for the best. Are you gradually learning how to get along in life, Ooki-sensei?”

“Yes, yes. But I’m starting to get worried about being the next advisor for the student council…” Ooki frowned and sighed before continuing. “Is school really that boring to you?”

Sayama stopped moving when he heard that.

He turned his gaze to meet that of Ooki’s blue eyes.

After a short pause, he gave a small shake of the head.

“I have no complaints with the school. It is true the student council election and the tests are all such small things that I do not need to grow serious about. However, that does not mean school is boring. It is only natural to feel that school is a small place. And I think that school has its own unique things to enjoy.”

“What a complicated child…”

After falling silent for a short while, Ooki bent her back over the railing she was leaning against and looked up into the sky.

Meanwhile, Sayama glanced at his watch. It was 2:50.

“Ooki-sensei, I think I should get back to my dorm soon.”

“Are you leaving soon?”

“Yes. After changing into a suit, I need to receive something similar to my grandfather’s will.”

Sayama opened the emergency exit. Ooki frantically got up from the railing and charged through the open door. Sayama also entered the school building as he closed the door.

Sayama walked through the hallway alongside Ooki. The last school newspaper of the year was attached to the classroom-side wall. The First PR Club put out the paper weekly. It generally carried articles related to IAI and this issue contained the school’s employment rate to IAI as well as a few other pieces of news.

Ooki stopped as she looked over at an article at her eyelevel which was one level below Sayama’s.

“They have detected an extrasolar star system with a high probability of being habitable. …That’s amazing!”

“It’s only been discovered. Just looking at this article will tell you how difficult a problem anything further would be.”

Sayama pointed at another article. The article’s photograph showed a giant pile of machinery lying collapsed on a large area of asphalt.

“According to this, they created an 8-meter-tall bipedal robot and it failed spectacularly. The joints were made too weak so its knees broke just from walking. …No matter what we may discover, it means nothing if we do not have the technology to use it.”

“Hm. So it’s the same as spotting a good-looking girl but not knowing how to talk to her.”

“I am glad you are so wise. Is that something you told yourself as an excuse?”

“Well, last Christmas, some of my friends and I…wait, no.”

When Ooki said that, Sayama realized she was looking up at his face.

''Why is she staring?'' he wondered.

“Is it that rare to see me smile?”

“No, it’s not that it’s rare. It’s interesting.”

Ooki began walking once more. Sayama followed.

Ooki asked, “Can I ask you about your grandfather?”

“Of course,” replied Sayama.

He had nothing to hide.

And so he spoke. He talked about a lot as they walked.

He told her how his grandfather had left the war during World War 2 and had begun researching something.

“And it seems the Izumo Aviation Institute was involved at the time. After the war, he used the connections and discoveries he had made as a base to set out into the financial world and become a corporate blackmailer.”

“A corporate blackmailer, hm?”

“He did a lot of pretty horrible things. …Every time he was in the newspaper, he would give the following line.”

Ooki nodded and cut in.

“ ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain’, right? I saw it once in a weekly magazine.”

“That’s right. My grandfather was a villain through and through. When he saw some giant opponent as an enemy or evil, he would fight them by becoming an even greater evil. And…that is also why I do not want to grow serious about anything.”

“That is?”

“I am inexperienced. ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain.’ My grandfather always told me my abilities were meant to perform necessary evils. However, I lost him when all he had taught me was how to do it.”

“So… You don’t know when the evil you perform is truly necessary?”

“Yes. I do not want to die, so there may be times when I will get serious. However, growing serious when I cannot tell if it is truly necessary is a frightening thing.”

As he spoke, Sayama suddenly brought his right hand to the left side of his chest.

As he brought his hand inside his coat and held his chest, Ooki spoke without turning toward him.

“It sounds like you have it tough in your own way.”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Then can I ask you about your father?”

“Why?”

“I never asked last year despite being your homeroom teacher, and…” The ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I think this is part of a teacher’s job.”

Sayama nodded as he lightly held the left side of his chest. After taking a breath, he spoke.

“There is nothing to worry about. It is a simple issue. More importantly, how much do you know, Ooki-sensei? I am curious.”

Ooki glanced upwards and folded her arms.

“Your father was adopted by your grandfather and he entered IAI at the same time as your mother. However, he was killed in the great Kansai earthquake at the end of 95. Your mother, um, well, brought you with her and-…”

Ooki trailed off and Sayama smiled bitterly.

“Before I tell you not to worry about it, I need to correct some of that. My father died as a secondary casualty of the earthquake when he was sent by IAI for earthquake relief.”

Sayama took a breath. He held up his empty left hand. That scarred left fist had a women’s ring on the middle finger. The pearl decoration glittered a bit in the dimly lit hallway.

Ooki turned to look at it as she walked.

However, Sayama also looked at the ring instead of looking at her.

“Go where those precious to you are waiting, hm?”

As his words deepened, Sayama felt as if something was moving within the left side of his chest.

It was pain.

And it felt like his chest was creaking.

It was coming.

And then Sayama saw Ooki looking up at him with her face completely pale.

“Sayama-kun. A-are you okay?”

He tried to answer “yes”, but he realized he was not breathing. When his body bent forward, he realized someone had suddenly started to support his chest.

Ooki had caught him from below.

“Ah…”

When he heard Ooki say that, all of his body’s senses returned.

He first felt exhaustion. He then felt he could breathe again and sweat poured from his back and legs.

He brought strength to his legs to stand up, but Ooki was still lightly holding her arms out toward him.

“A-are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

“Really? Okay? You are okay?”

“I am okay, but that is not correct English.” His body was now obviously returning to normal. He nodded and said, “I am fine, so do not worry. It seems I get stress-induced anginas from this topic.”

“Then why did you agree to talk about it?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to know? You truly are a horrible teacher if you forgot that.”

“Oh, but , um…”

As Ooki began frantically waving her hands in denial, Sayama smiled again.

“What are you trying to deny? Think about it. I am free to say what I want. And you are free to support me when I fall. I would say you performed the better deed here. Don’t you agree? But let me say one thing.” Sayama removed his right hand from his chest. “My mother would often tell me she hoped I could do something one day. I have to wonder if she ever did anything. And now the child raised hearing that has no idea what he can do. And so I must ask: what should I do?”

“I see… So you do not know what you can do.” Ooki nodded and her shoulders drooped. She looked up at Sayama and earnestly said, “I finally understand why you are so extreme about everything.”

“I cannot overlook that. Who are you calling extreme?”

“What? You didn’t hear me? I said it quite clearly. Is that a nose on the side of your head?”

Sayama’s left hand gave a lightning-fast flick against the forehead that had asked that question so seriously.

“Eeee,” groaned Ooki as she crouched down.

Sayama brought a hand to his chin and said, “Some teachers can say truly horrible things about their students.”

In the end, Sayama did not leave his dorm until past four.

It had taken time to put on the three-piece suit he had inherited from his grandfather and to prepare the seal and digital recording device needed for official records. He wrote down his time of departure at the dorm’s reception desk and left.

The sun was still in the sky.

He walked through the gravel clearing located between the general school buildings and the dorm. It normally functioned as a faculty parking lot. He was headed toward the main gate.

As he cut behind the second year general school building as a shortcut, he heard baby birds singing in the trees.

As he listened, Sayama heard two sounds other than the chirping of the birds.

The first was organ music coming from the music room on the second story of the school building.

“Silent Night…”

He recalled occasionally hearing it on the weekends. However, this was the first time he had been able to determine exactly where it was coming from. He wondered who was playing it, but it was so perfectly played that he assumed it was not a student.

And as the organ music played, another sound could be heard approaching.

It was the sound of a motorcycle engine. Specifically, the low tone of a 4-stroke.

As he heard that noise coming from the direction of the main gate, Sayama muttered, “Izumo and Kazami.”

He then walked out to the asphalt road west of the school building.

He looked out toward the faculty building, the vast sports ground, and the martial arts facility. He spotted two people riding a motorcycle appearing out from the side of the faculty building. Despite the large amount of exhaust, the black touring motorcycle moved smoothly along the road.

Aboard the motorcycle were a well-built young man wearing a thin brown coat and a girl with semi-short hair and carrying a black rucksack. The back bared by the girl’s white sleeveless top pointed in Sayama’s direction.

The two were chatting while riding the motorcycle.

Suddenly, the young man noticed Sayama. A friendly smile appeared on his fairly long face.

“Hey,” he said with a raised hand.

He then stopped the motorcycle next to Sayama.

The young man was over 180 cm tall and broad-shouldered, so he supported the weight of the heavy motorcycle with his leg.

The girl swayed gently and rested up against the young man’s back.

The young man smiled with the girl leaning up against him.

He looked up and said, “Where do you think you’re going, Sayama you idiot? To go spew insults at someone?”

Sayama brought a hand to his forehead and sighed.

With a troubled tone of voice, he said, “Izumo, unlike you, my brain is working properly. And I have never spewed insults at anyone, you sick bastard.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks for keeping up your acting style even during spring break.”

[[Image:OnC_v01_0051.png|thumb]]

“No need to thank me. But should the three top members of the student council really be having this sort of conversation?”

The young man, Izumo, smiled bitterly at that.

“Of course not,” he agreed.

The girl leaning on his back turned their way.

“Sayama, you’re going to IAI, right?”

“Yes, I am. Kazami, Izumo. What about you two?”

“I was just headed back to the dorm to have some fun with Chisato…kh!”

As he spoke, Izumo’s head twisted upwards. The girl named Kazami had grabbed at Izumo’s head and jaw from behind. A delicate sound came from Izumo’s neck and he gently fell backwards.

“Kaku, that is not what he asked. Sayama wanted to know where we had been.”

Izumo’s head came to rest on top of Kazami’s thighs and he stopped moving.

“There, there,” said Kazami as she stroked his head. She then showed Sayama the black rucksack next to her and smiled.

“We went into the city. We bought some clothes, new music, and other stuff for the All Holiday Festival. Being on the edge of Tokyo really makes you forget all about culture.”

“…I see. But you two are third years and you live together, right?”

The girl, Kazami, thought for a bit looking troubled, but then spoke.

“Well, that’s how it turned out. Now, when I try to mingle with the others, they’re overly cautious about how they treat me. My role in the dorm has become that of an older sister. An underclassman even apologized just for passing by me in the hall.”

“Your face seems to be turning to cement.”

Kazami turned her head down, said “Oh, sorry”, and relaxed her shoulders. She casually clapped a hand against Izumo who was lying motionless on her thighs.

“Don’t turn into an idiot like him, okay? He abuses his authority as the son of IAI.”

“It seems to me you are enjoying that abuse quite a lot.”

“I know that, and that’s why it angers me so much. He needs to at least take his student council job seriously.” Kazami raised her head to look Sayama in the eye. “Oh, right. Sayama, I was thinking of having our first student council job for the term in the 2nd year school building’s Kinugasa Library. Do you have time? The three of us can make some plans for the All Holiday Festival and Invitation Festival in the spring.”

“I have to head out today and I do not know how late I will be back.”

“We’re leaving for the city again tomorrow afternoon, so how about 9 AM tomorrow in the Kinugasa Library?”

“I can do that,” agreed Sayama. He glanced over at the school building next to them. “The Kinugasa Library, hm?”

On the western side of the second year general school building’s ground floor, an area four classroom’s length across was sticking out. It stuck out about the width of a classroom. Inside this space was an area equal to eight classrooms.

A look in the windows would show the backs of wooden panels. These thick wooden panels created the silhouettes of bookshelves.

The room was a library.

Almost the entire eight classroom space was filled with books and the hallway and basement had been used for extra book storage. That was the Kinugasa Library.

As Sayama glanced toward the library’s window, he heard Kazami speaking.

“The library created by the school’s founder isn’t a bad place for our first job, right? The librarian, old man Siegfried, may be unsociable, but he does put out tea. We used that place a fair bit during the election, so I was thinking we could continue to use it as our base.”

“This year’s treasurer certainly is different.”

“I think the president and vice president will be quite different as well. But what do you think? Are upperclassmen like us suitable for someone as prideful as you?”

“I think that statement alone shows you can compete with me when it comes to pride. …But at the very least, there is no one in this school who is better suited. Izumo Kaku, the son of IAI which supports this city of Akigawa, and Kazami Chisato, the girl who shares a room with him, are true problem children.”

“…”

“There is no way you two are ignorant of what the world says about you. I respect you for your ability to continue acting like this regardless.”

Hearing that, Kazami showed off her teeth slightly and looked down at Izumo who lay on her legs.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what people say. Kaku may cause problems, but he is not a bad person.”

“The same goes for you, Kazami.”

“Then what about you, Mr. Family of Villains?” Kazami raised her head to look at Sayama. She glanced up and down his suit. “You look good enough, but you make things difficult.”

“In what way?”

“I’m having difficulty imagining who would stand next to you. I can’t imagine someone to balance out your idiocy like Kaku is for me.”

“There is no one out there with enough power to handle me on an equal footing.”

“That isn’t what I mean.” Kazami gave a troubled smile. She lightly waved her hand front and back. “I’m talking about balance. Equals can only stand on the same side of the scales, right? You need a counterbalance.”

Sayama thought on the meaning of Kazami’s words.

And, “Someone like that would either be an opposing force or a hindrance.”

“So am I an opposing force or hindrance to Kaku?”

That question was spoken with a small smile. Sayama relaxed his shoulders.

“I do not know the answer to that, so I cannot argue about it with someone like you who does know the answer.”

“Oh, how honest.”

“I am an honest person, Kazami. It is just that, for some odd reason, I seem to end up in trouble for it from time to time. Is this what they mean when they say an honest man will look a fool? Yes, our ancestors said some excellent things.”

“Okay, sure. If that’s how you want to view it in your personal universe, I won’t stop you.”

Sayama smiled bitterly at that. He exchanged a glance with Kazami and spoke.

“Fine, then. I will admit relationships like yours and Izumo’s exist. However, I am doubtful the same could happen to me. I also think it is a problem to even think about placing someone like that next to me.”

“A problem?”

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain. What do you put next to evil?”

Kazami had no answer to that. She only let her shoulders droop and sighed.

“You really are a complicated person.”

“Ooki-sensei said the same thing earlier.”

“Everyone thinks it. We also wonder when exactly you will get serious about something.”

“I have never done it, so I couldn’t say. …And if I did, I am so inexperienced I would likely be afraid of myself.”

“…You really are complicated, Sayama.”

“You do not need to repeat yourself,” said Sayama with a smile before lightly tapping Izumo’s back where he lay unmoving as if asleep. “You’re awake, right? Hurry on back and dive headfirst into your unrestrained lifestyle.”

“Eh?” muttered Kazami as she looked down.

Izumo opened his eyes.

“Hey.”

“No, not ‘hey’. If you came to, why didn’t you get up?”

“You smell really good, Chisato.”

Izumo’s eyes bent upwards happily as Kazami blushed.

“Ha,” laughed Sayama before patting Kazami on the shoulder, turning his back, and walking off.

He continued toward the main gate.

As he did, he noticed a new figure.

Someone was walking down the stairs from the second floor of the 2nd year general school building.

It was a tall elderly man. He wore a black vest, black trousers, and black gloves. He was bald and had a beard.

“Siegfried Zonburg, the librarian.”

Sayama had spoken with him a few times during his student council work. The man used only the bare minimum of words.

“You do not often see him outside of the Kinugasa Library,” he muttered before continuing on.

He looked around once more and saw nothing but the scenery of the school near the peak of spring.

“Such a peaceful place…”

Behind him, he heard repeated sounds of flesh being struck followed by screams from Izumo.

The sun was setting in the west.

Below that setting sun, even a forest surrounded by mountains had light passing through it like wind.

The forest was primarily made up of cedars. A single figure was fallen in front of one of those trees.

The figure was sitting on the ground.

This middle-aged man sat such that the sun shined on him from the side. His close-cropped hair was wet with something so it reflected the sun. The liquid wetting his hair dripped down his forehead and dyed the left half of his face a dark color.

His clothes resembled a white and black military uniform. However, the left shoulder and left leg of that uniform had split open and something dark could be seen flowing out as he breathed erratically.

He stretched out his left hand and scratched at the ground. With the blood in his eyes, he might as well have been blind. His left hand wandered across the ground.

Eventually, he managed to pick something up from between the rocks and fallen leaves.

It was a long gun made of metal. The side was engraved with something written in German.

He embraced the gun tightly and took a deep breath. He stuck a finger into the pouch on his right hip.

“This is Tsuurin Daiichi. My current location is in the mountains near Point 3 between Okutama and Shiromaru. I succeeded in preventing the single enemy from escaping. I successfully read the enemy’s string vibration and sent it in. Currently…everyone but me has been taken out. Please hurry.”

A staticky voice replied from near his throat. It was a female voice.

“Testament. The special division is on their way. We will send aid for you as well, so withdraw.”

“Tes. …Or so I’d like to say. Unfortunately, my leg was taken out. And my healing tools and spells were destroyed along with it. I only have my favorite weapon left to rely on. …When I asked you to hurry, I meant the special division, not aid for me.” He took a deep breath while sweating profusely. “The enemy is from a faction of 1st-Gear’s revolutionary army. Yes, a werewolf from the second royal palace faction. He likely came for negotiations with the pacifist faction. He must have had a 1st-Gear philosopher’s stone because he turned into a wolf in this real world.”

“Do not speak. The concept space will be deployed in another five minutes.”

“Ha ha. Make it so a silver bullet will work. Also, young girl…or is it young lady? Anyway, you don’t think this is our fault, do you?”

He was met with silence. He cast his eyes down before continuing.

“Fine. It was our mistake for deciding to go. In the standard division, we have the right to choose…right?”

Once again, he received only silence. Yet he did not stop.

“What unit are you from? Even in the special division, not many units have women in them. But I think there was one put together recently. A unit filled with beautiful UCAT-raised girls and women. I think it was the IAI-…”

He stopped speaking. His eyes opened wide and he stood up by using the tree behind him as a support.

“Hey, when I get back, meet me with flowers. It’ll be a triumphant return. What’s in bloom this time of year?”

“Testament. I think Primula modesta and the like are.”

“No, you’re supposed to say you are.”

He laughed and removed his right hand from the pouch. He moved the long gun from his left hand to his right. He bit the strap, used the stock and grip in his right hand to create three points of support, and faced forward.

He heard wind ahead of him.

A large shadow could be seen in the setting sun shining on the mountain. It was slowly approaching while swaying back and forth.

There was no sign. He simply followed the sound of the wind and squeezed the trigger.

A gunshot travelled across the forest along with the light of the setting sun.

Sayama opened his eyes aboard a train running through the mountains on the way to Okutama.

He had dozed off due to the setting sun shining on his seated back. And he had woken up due to…

“The train has stopped?”

He glanced around the train. The only passengers besides himself were two people seated a short distance away.

One was a white-haired man wearing a black suit. The other was a white-haired girl wearing black clothes and seated next to him. They may have been father and daughter and they were looking outside the opposite window.

Sayama followed their gaze out the window.

There he found the mountains of Okutama. They were all formed from round shapes and no small hills could be seen.

“So we are around the second tunnel near Shiromaru. Only one more stop to Okutama.”

He was familiar with the terrain here. He continued speaking while looking out at those similar-looking mountains.

“This is thanks to Hiba-sensei forcing me to run through these mountains.”

…''If I had not learned the land, I would not have been found until spring.

Sayama nodded and looked down at his left hand. His skin was white around the bones of his fist as if something had scattered across it. His eyes turned toward the ring on the middle finger of that scarred fist.

“It was also around here that we got out of the car when my mother took me with her back then…” he muttered.

According to his watch, it was 5:30 PM. He was to be at IAI at 6:00 PM.

When he calculated the time, his heart seemed to stiffen. He stood up, raised his suit collar to fix it with a snapping noise, and approached the two other passengers. The white-haired man raised his head. The man was wearing sunglasses, but Sayama could tell the man was looking at him. Sayama gave a quick bow.

“Excuse me. Why is the train stopped?”

“It received a stop signal. Once it is released, it will return to Shiromaru.”

The man’s tone had a bit of amusement mixed in and Sayama realized he was younger than he looked. Sayama had initially assumed he was elderly, but a closer look showed he was only just entering middle age.

The girl next to him wore the black dress and white apron of a maid. She was not the man’s daughter.

…''I had heard the ownership of a lot of the mountains around here stretches way back.

Sayama noticed the girl was holding a staff. It was a metal cane that could be attached to the wrist. It was clearly too long for her to use. However, Sayama ended his investigation of them here. He needed to know something else.

“Why is this train returning?”

“Maybe there was an accident.”

“I see,” nodded Sayama, realizing the man must not know the details either.

Suddenly, the girl sitting next to the man looked up at Sayama. With her eyebrows lying flat and no discernible expression on her face, her black eyes that were almost purple peered deep into Sayama’s eyes.

She took a breath and then opened her mouth.

“My apologies,” she said in a low, fairly mature voice.

“Think nothing of it,” said Sayama before turning his back on the two of them.

He opened the opposite window and heard the same voice as before from behind him.

“Are you getting out?”

“I cannot go back. Also, someone is waiting for me.”

“You are being hasty. The train might soon continue forward. Once you regret a decision, it is too late to turn back.”

“I do not know what god of advice you are, but let me tell you something. A decision can lead to joy just as easily as it can regret. I appreciate your concern, but I know this land. And is there anything truly dangerous in this world?”

“True… That is very true. There is no danger in this world,” said the man before closing his mouth in a smile below the sunglasses.

As soon as the man spread his legs out from the seat, Sayama stuck his legs out the window and jumped out.

He landed on the gravel supporting the railroad. He ran out into the open air and onto the mountainside bathed in the light of the setting sun.

“…”

Sayama did not turn back toward the train up the slope from him. He continued through the forest spreading out before him.

He trampled the underbrush as he headed down the mountain.

After only a few breaths, he sank into the shadows produced by the forest. The setting sun coming from the side and the branches of the trees drew a grid of shadows across him. This light and air were familiar to him.

“It’s been two years since I stopped coming to Okutama. I suppose the Hiba Dojo is still around.”

As he muttered that comment, he heard a metallic noise from behind him.

A whistle sounded and the train began to move. He heard it move up toward Shiromaru. The sound of the receding wheels told Sayama he had made the right decision.

“Good,” he said with a nod as he quickened his pace.

Shiromaru Station was an unmanned train station.

When the train came to a stop, the few passengers disinterestedly exited onto the long, narrow platform.

A short distance away from those bored individuals were the two people Sayama had spoken to just before.

The white-haired man held the cane in one hand as he stood next to a card-only payphone located in the shadow of a private home outside the station.

The girl dressed as a maid stood in front of him holding the receiver for the green telephone.

She pulled a bundle of telephone cards from her apron like it was a deck of playing cards.

She quickly lined the cards up in front of the green phone and turned toward the man.

“Itaru-sama. Why do you not carry a cell phone?”

“Because I am a coward, Sf. Remember that. If the phone rang, it would probably give me a heart attack.”

“How about I carry it for you?”

“No. You have not acquired the skill to take messages. If you cannot always answer as if I am gone even when I am with you, there is no point in you having a cell phone. Do you understand?”

“Tes. I understand that possessing one would be meaningless on a fundamental level.”

The girl called Sf stopped lining up the cards while looking at him. She was lining up the well-used cards in order of number of uses. The punch holes showing the number of uses lined up perfectly without the slightest deviation.

Sf casually picked up one card with few uses left and slid it into the green phone.

She used her right fingers to instantly dial a number.

A few seconds later, “This is Sf. Registration Number 9609812B. Connect me to extension #0013.”

Sf then handed the receiver to the man next to her. He took it and spoke.

“This is Ooshiro Itaru. Has Team Leviathan left yet, Sibyl? …I see. I just met an interesting idiot. Something stupid is about to happen. A world of stupid false good and false evil is about to unfold. …You don’t understand? No, someone like you or Sf that has not woken up wouldn’t.”

As Itaru spoke, Sf inserted a new card into the green telephone. When the small sound of connection indicating three minutes had been added came from the receiver, Itaru nodded to Sf. He continued speaking as he saw Sf nod back.

“Sf confirmed this idiot’s string vibration. I’ll have Sf give it to you, so add this idiot’s vibration to the string vibration of the concept space. It’s the usual type, so this change should be easy and the outside will be visible, right? Drag him in from reality. …What? You want to know who this idiot is? You’ll know soon enough.”

Hearing that, Sf asked, “Itaru-sama, is it really okay to get him involved like this?”

“That brat has ignorantly decided that this world is a safe place. We need to teach him a lesson and a first-hand lesson would be best. From now on, he is sure to be overturned again and again. From here on out, he will deny all things because all things exist. He will deny joy because he knows joy. And…Yes, that will continue until the world is satisfied.”

Itaru gave a small smile and handed Sf the receiver.

“Sf, tell them his string vibration. And then we will teach him what reality truly is.”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume1_Chapter_2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 33

2016-01-16T00:16:35Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 33: He who Speaks of Pain */

==Chapter 33: He who Speaks of Pain==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0289.png|thumb]]
''It exists within pain

''So even as they ache

''People can reach out

According to the library’s clock, it was 2:30 PM.

An hour and a half had passed since the afternoon question-and-answer sessions had begun.

It was a good time for a short recess.

However, no one in the audience seats stood, spoke, or even stirred. Only Hajji’s calm voice filled the meeting room.

He spoke as everyone watched.

“Now, let us reconfirm the destructive sins Low-Gear committed against Top-Gear.”

Eventually, he received a reply.

At the bottom of the library, Sayama added in his own words.

“Then you can hear my opinion while we are at it.”

“Of course,” expressionlessly replied Hajji “First.”

Everyone listened as he began his previous list of seven sins.

“What do you have to say about Low-Gear’s existence causing the time of destruction?”

And Sayama answered. He gave the answer he had likely already prepared in his heart.

“About that one…”

Everyone listened.

“If you can call the world’s creation a sin, then wouldn’t the greatest sinner be god, who is ranked just below me? It would be one thing if it was something we could have changed, but this was unavoidable, wasn’t it? There is no room for redemption here, so why even talk about it as a sin?”

“I see,” said Hajji.

He seemed to be aware how utterly silent the audience was because he did not raise his voice even as he suddenly continued on.

“Then what about the second sin, killing your neighbors by destroying the ten Gears?”

The next question brought about even greater silence.

Sayama frowned and asked the very question that had brought on that silence.

“Does this mean you accepted my answer concerning the first sin?”

Despite the question, Hajji remained expressionless and said something else.

“Can we move on?”

What did that question mean in relation to Sayama’s doubts?

No one knew and Hajji simply repeated himself.

“Are you listening? I asked about the sin of killing your neighbors.”

After being asked again, Sayama finally nodded and gave an expressionless answer.

“That has already been settled with the ones involved. There is no need for an unrelated Gear to speak out about it now.”

“I see,” everyone heard Hajji say.

And without altering his stance, he immediately asked the next question.

“Then what about the third sin, killing your parent by destroying Top-Gear?”

Sayama’s eyebrows moved slightly when the man continued to the third question without adding anything to the previous one.

However, he slowly and cautiously answered that third question.

“I plan to go over the facts of that issue in a moment.”

Everyone once more heard Hajji say, “I see.”

And that answer filled the audience with some slight movement.

That movement was known as unrest.

Hajji had claimed he would answer Sayama’s reason using emotion.

However, he had said nothing about any of the three answers he had received, even though Sayama’s last answer had not been an answer at all.

Nevertheless, Hajji said nothing more. Enough people found this unusual that a slight stir was running through them.

What was going on?

However, Hajji asked his next question as if to drown out that slight noise.

“Then what about the fourth sin, the killing of your other selves?”

“I think we should lament that one side was lost as a result of our battle.”

Sayama gave a purely dutiful answer, but…

“I see.”

Hajji let it slide again.

Everyone watching over the meeting reacted further.

“…?”

Their doubts and suspicions grew.

They had assumed Hajji would speak from the side of emotion about what was lost, yet he was letting Sayama’s answers go with no further comment.

Once again, they wondered what was going on.

And then they realized Sayama’s brow was ever so slightly furrowed as he faced Hajji.

That was proof that he too had assumed his answers would receive some kind of argument.

He had assumed a debate between reason and emotion would begin.

But Hajji was asking nothing more of him.

Just as everyone wondered why, Hajji spoke again.

“Then what about the fifth sin, bringing a disaster to your own world?”

Sayama thought for a few seconds, and…

“The residual effects of Top-Gear’s destruction were unavoidable and I believe the damage was kept to a minimum by sending Noah into the void. As such,” he said, “I feel Low-Gear did nothing wrong there.”

Everyone could tell his use of the word “feel” was an invitation.

Because they had done the best they could, he did not “feel” anything wrong with what they had lost.

That was an unforgivable statement from the standpoint of emotion.

Nevertheless…

“I see.”

Hajji let even that go.

Everyone held their breaths at Hajji’s confounding responses.

How did he want this question-and-answer session to go?

And as they all watched him, Hajji spoke lightly as if trying to hurry the topic along.

“Then what about the sixth sin, covering it all up to escape responsibility?”

Sayama gave a direct answer.

He seemed to be saying he felt a need to answer no matter what Hajji might be hiding.

“Listen. We too were affected by our predecessors’ secrecy. That is how we managed to complete our negotiations while looking to the future. …That is all there is to it.”

He was essentially stubbornly refusing to justify it, but…

“I see. Then…”

Sure enough, Hajji asked nothing of emotion and moved on.

“What about the seventh sin, attempting to rule the world while hiding your sins?”

“To rule the world? I believe we were negotiating to stand on equal footing with the other Gears, but do you see it differently?”

He answered the question with a question of his own, but Hajji responded no differently.

“I see.”

When they heard that answer, everyone had a feeling they knew what was coming.

Was even the judgment of those seven sins part of the “emotion of what was lost” that Hajji spoke of?

And to prove them right, he gave Sayama a nod of understanding and spoke.

“Reason is a troublesome thing, Sayama. If you try to use reason to answer even a tiny question produced by emotion, you can only provide a specific means of resolving the problem.”

He crossed his arms.

“And reason is a sad thing. After all, even if you answer each individual question and then try to solve each of the problems, it does not change the fact that Low-Gear destroyed the other
Gears.”

Everyone heard Sayama respond.

“I am aware of that. That is the entire point of the Leviathan Road. It allows us to move toward a resolution without letting our emotions get the better of us.”

“Is that so?” asked Hajji while scratching his head. “Is that so? Then there is one problem I would like for you to resolve.”

Hajji looked up and everyone stiffened.

It was coming.

The emotion was coming.

This was the emotion everyone felt when they lost something.

Even the judgment of the seven sins had come from this, so they were but the opening act.

He was about to speak of a means to resolve that emotion.

As they all wondered what that could be, they saw motion.

The girl sitting next to Hajji nodded with her arms crossed and eyes closed.

Pushed on by her nod, Hajji opened his mouth.

“Reaching a resolution is the logic of those who survived, so I will respond to that with the logic of those who died.”

This was Top-Gear’s demand.

“This is the one and only way to resolve the emotion of losing something precious. This is something that cannot be resolved with emotion, so I ask that you resolve it with reason, Sayama.”

Hajji asked for just one thing.

“Please return everything that we lost.”

In the depths of the silence and stillness, Hajji clearly asked for what emotion demanded.

As Top-Gear’s substitute representative he presented his demand to Low-Gear’s representative. This was Top-Gear’s demand for the Leviathan Road.

[[Image:OnC_v13_0299.jpg|thumb]]

“Return everything and everyone that was lost or that died.”

He took a breath.

“Yes, we do not need anything other than that.”

He closed his eyes.

“We simply want it back. If you do that, we will have no more reason for hard feelings. So…”

He placed his hands on his desk and bowed deeply toward Sayama.

“Could you please return everything that you have taken from us?”

Kazami clenched her teeth.

…''Now he’s done it!!

He was making an attack of pure emotion.

There was no way of bringing the dead back to life. Everyone knew that.

…''But it’s what everyone wants. They want their loss to have never happened!

Kazami understood this all too well after her tears a month and a half ago.

The words “what if” were powerful.

Unattainable hope hid behind them.

And as Kazami watched, Hajji said more with his head still bowed.

“What if? What if our lands and skies still remained?”

He used them.

“What if? What if the birds and beasts still lived?”

He used them.

“What if? What if those precious people still lived?”

What if?

“What if we still held all the misunderstandings, things we wanted to say, things we wanted to do, and everything else that we only now realize were so important?”

As soon as Hajji straightened up, Sayama’s voice rang out.

“Those are words of retreat that deny all of the inherited words and inherited people!”

“Then yours are words of attack that can only be spoken by those who can still move ahead.”

Hajji calmly answered Sayama’s shout.

“Listen.”

He breathed in and let Sayama’s shouting go without comment. He seemed to say there was no need to speak in such a disgraceful manner here.

“What if?”

''Here it comes,'' realized Kazami.

This was what lay on the opposite end of a demand. If that demand was not accepted, he would ask for…

…''Compensation!

The compensation brought about by the greatest emotion would be a resolution created by the greatest reason.

A moment later, Hajji gave his true demand.

“Here is what Top-Gear demands. The other Gears have lost everything, so if Low-Gear cannot return anything to them, you must hand over this entire Gear as a substitution. …That is Top-Gear’s demand for the Leviathan Road.”

His words filled the library and the air grew clear.

Almost everyone looked to Sayama, but Kazami noticed someone who reacted differently.

In the moderator’s seat, Sf still looked out across the entire room.

“Low-Gear representative, give your answer.”

“Very well.”

Kazami listened as Sayama puffed out his chest and gave a succinct answer.

“That is impossible, you fool.”

Hajji looked to Sayama without even frowning.

“Impossible?”

Sayama nodded.

“Indeed it is,” he began. “Listen. Why are you making such a big deal about demanding something we could never provide? No one could do that. If you can bring back the dead, then I will attempt to answer your ‘what ifs’. But you cannot and this is not something that can be replaced by a substitute. That is why… Yes, that is why we have chosen to clear it all away by letting it be inherited by the next generation.”

He took a breath.

“Emotion is a troublesome thing, Hajji-kun. And it is a sad thing.”

“How is it sad?”

Sayama nodded and spoke as if working to understand his opponent.

“Do you have anyone to inherit who you are once you die?”

“…”

“It would make no sense if you did. After all, you have told the people you leave behind to forever regret your death.” Sayama breathed out. “That is a sad thing. Have you never heard of the Bon Festival system? How about Easter, or memorial services, or graves, or memorial portraits, or memorial tablets, or prayers to your ancestors, or thinking of the other side of the Sanzu River, or the sorrowful day of the number seven and its multiple? …They are all a way of reconfirming what was lost, keeping count, and continuing on.”

Hajji heard Sayama continue and saw him place his right hand on his chest.

“But you are telling us not to keep count of how much time has passed.”

“I see,” said Hajji. “Then,” he began.

He went on to ask a question that seemed perfectly natural to him. From his emotional standpoint, he felt the need to ask this of the boy who faced him from a reasoning standpoint.

“Sayama, does your reason treat the dead as a number?”

This was his question.

Hajji remembered those who had been lost. He could not treat them as mere numbers.

''But what about Sayama?'' he wondered with a bitter smile in his heart. He seemed to be hoping Sayama would be in the same place as him.

But Sayama did not immediately respond.

''It’s coming,'' he realized. ''He’s going to try something now.

…''Bring it on.

No matter what answer the boy gave, he would reply with emotion.

Soon, Sayama slowly opened his mouth and held his hand to the left side of his chest.

“It is true that reason would treat the dead as a number and that is what I will do. But…”

He lowered the ends of his eyebrows, smiled, and stared directly at Hajji.

“But then why do I feel this pain?”

Sayama inhaled.

With that one breath, he attempted to control the binding pain filling his body.

Memories of his parents filled the back of his mind. He had remembered them in order to count two of the dead as a number.

And as close as those dead were to him, he did count them as a number.

Still, he ached.

''Why is that?'' he wondered.

Was it because his mother had sacrificed herself to save his life?

When he asked why his mother had done that, he found an answer.

“I asked why I feel this pain when I use reason to think about this, but the answer is simple. …My parents and my grandfather are telling me not to feel this pain forever.”

And…

“This pain is what brought me here. Do you understand what I mean?”

He spoke to Hajji who was trying to listen to him.

“Why do I still try to use reason even as I ache? Let me answer that as it relates to another story: the truth of Top-Gear’s destruction.”

Brunhild listened to Sayama.

“I will now provide Low-Gear’s view of Top-Gear’s destruction. And let me provide the conclusion up front: Top-Gear’s destruction was not a one-sided attack; it was the result of many people’s pains.”

This meant one thing.

He was going to prove that Top-Gear’s destruction had not been caused by Low-Gear’s invasion.

…''He’s going to eliminate the advantage Top-Gear has as the victim of destruction?

Brunhild frowned just as Hajji spoke.

As usual, it was a quiet almost suppressed voice.

“Are you trying to justify your destruction of Top-Gear?”

Kashima listened as Sayama ignored Hajji, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth.

“Those of you who have read the report likely have a few questions. I assume the greatest of those is why Shinjou Yukio did not actively work on creating the negative concepts after moving to Top-Gear. And why she failed to make them once she did try.”

Someone replied.

It was of course Hajji and, as if forming a duet with the boy, he filled in what Sayama had left unsaid.

“That is because your father took revenge. He altered the negative concept data he sent to Shinjou Yukio so that they would activate once made.”

Kashima nodded.

The report contained evidence to support that view of the past. Sayama Asagi himself had said as much before Low-Gear had begun their attack.

Kashima thought that was proof enough that Low-Gear had destroyed Top-Gear.

But Miyako listened to what Sayama expressionlessly said with his eyes closed.

“Shinjou Yukio was able to use the incomplete positive concepts to calculate out the missing portion. Why was someone that skilled unable to accurately create the negative concepts in a world containing the opposite example that were the positive concepts? Was she really misled by the data? It is quite the mystery. And Shinjou Yukio left behind another mystery.”

He took a breath.

“She said this world has three things that Top-Gear does not.”

''Yeah,'' thought Miyako. ''I heard about that from Wanambi.

So she knew what Sayama was about to say.

Under her breath, she said exactly what Sayama did and paid no heed to Gyes who turned toward her.

“Babel, the Biblical mythology, and one other.”

But Miyako did not know the rest.

''Oh,'' she thought. ''Are you here to find that out?

The plant creature listened to Sayama’s voice which seemed to reverberate in its thoughts.

“But what is the final one? Shinjou Yukio, the woman so closely involved with Top-Gear’s destruction, was pursuing that mystery.”

“Shinjou?”

Sayama seemed to reply to the creature.

“Yes. That is Shinjou-kun’s mother who defected to Top-Gear. And she had found the answer to that mystery.”

From 5th-Gear’s representative seat, Harakawa listened to Sayama while transmitting the voices to Heo using his cellphone.

''Keep talking, villain,'' he thought.

“So what is the final thing that only Low-Gear has?” asked Sayama. “The answer is…Shinjou-kun.”

Izumo listened while leaving the infirmary with Hiba.

“I don’t really get it, but if that idiot isn’t just praising his girlfriend again, he’d better explain himself.”

Sayama could not hear his voice or the bitter smile it contained, but the boy almost seemed to answer him.

“If this world has a concept unique to itself, what do you think it is?”

Hiba asked about that while tilting his head and walking with his legs turned inward.

“Does this negative Gear really have a concept?”

Izumo was not the one to answer him; it was Sayama over the cellphone.

“Had you never thought about it? Anyone from Low-Gear had to have wondered this at least once after learning of the Concept War: how can this world exist with nothing but negative concepts?”

And…

“How can Low-Gear continue to exist without losing its balance even after the positive concepts were brought here?”

Hiba realized what Sayama was trying to say.

“Is that because Low-Gear has some kind of special concept?”

Sayama’s voice replied.

“Yes. Negative concepts can exist all on their own under the effects of this concept. In fact, it is thanks to this concept that negative concepts, positive concepts, and anything else are allowed in this world.”

Wanambi listened to the answer of the riddle that Shinjou Yukio had given him more than a decade ago.

Sayama was giving that answer in its most accurate form.

“And under the effects of this concept, even the god-like act of creating concepts becomes possible. …That is what Low-Gear alone has. It is a concept that allows for positive, negative, creation, and anything else.”

He declared its identity.

“It is…”

He took a breath.

“The concept of contradiction allowance.”

Hajji listened as Sayama raised just his left forearm.

“Why did Shinjou Yukio move to Top-Gear? That is simple. Because thanks to the contradiction allowance concept, the normally impossible concept creation was possible in Low-Gear.”

He listened to Sayama’s words.

He accepted them as a reply to the argument he had made during his attack on UCAT.

He silently listened to the boy’s words.

…''I see.

''So this is his answer,'' he thought. Sayama felt pain while using reason, so he had chosen a way to suppress that pain.

…''To swallow up the pain, he is attempting to learn and accept everything.

Sayama was doing nothing more than reasoning his way through the issue, but Hajji knew what the boy was trying to do.

This reasoning would allow him to accept emotion.

So…

…''Doesn’t that make you the bearer of emotion!?

Even as he had that thought, Hajji continued to listen to Sayama.

“Therefore, Shinjou Yukio realized her existence would be a deciding factor for Low-Gear. Yet if she revealed the existence of the contradiction allowance concept, who knows what Low-Gear’s hawks would try to use it to create. So she kept it a secret, altered her concept creation theory, and defected to Top-Gear.”

''Why defect?'' silently asked Hajji.

As if to answer him, Sayama looked his way and gave a small nod.

“Top-Gear had no contradiction allowance concept, so concept creation was impossible there no matter how much they struggled. Doing so would be playing god, so it was only possible in a world that allowed for anything. Therefore,” he said again. “It may seem backwards, but she would not be a deciding factor for Top-Gear if she sided with them. And with no knowledge of the contradiction allowance concept, Low-Gear concluded that they could no longer create concepts since she had left and altered her theory.”

He breathed in and chose his words carefully.

“But Top-Gear asked her to create the negative concepts there, even though doing so was impossible. And if they created them regardless,” he said. “They would be unstable negative concepts that would inevitably activate.”

That statement contained a certain truth, so Hajji opened his mouth and asked for confirmation.

“Then is this what you are trying to say? Top-Gear was destroyed because they had Shinjou Yukio create the negative concepts without knowing the truth?”

However, Sayama did not nod in agreement.

He simply paused for a moment to look at Hajji.

“In the past we saw in Sakai, Top-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio had realized the truth about the contradiction allowance concept. After all, he seemed to know why his other self was refusing to create the concepts there. But he wanted to do his very best despite knowing that,” said Sayama. “As for Low-Gear, I think my father had also realized that truth. And when the two Shinjous decided to create the negative concepts, my father sent them the modified negative concept data. …Why do you think he did that?”

Hajji thought on that.

But…

“I would like to hear what you think, Sayama.”

Hajji watched as Sayama held his chest with his right hand.

His shirt could be seen twisting below his suit’s collar as he grasped the pain in his chest.

“My father had a single reason for sending them the modified data despite knowing the whole truth. If the worst case scenario played out, he wanted to take all responsibility for Top-Gear’s destruction onto himself rather than letting it fall on Top-Gear.”

After all…

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain.”

Jord listened to Hajji speak.

“Then are you saying Top-Gear destroyed itself?”

“I do not know.”

Sayama spoke clearly and Jord saw strength in his raised left arm.

“In the past we saw, Top-Gear was already attempting to create the negative concepts without Shinjou Yukio. And at that stage, she finally decided to help. …I am nearly certain that she first insisted that it would be impossible. But,” he said. “The higher ups most likely ordered both Shinjous to create the negative concepts regardless.”

“Why would they insist on creating the concepts after knowing it is impossible?”

Jord noticed something off about the tone of Hajji’s question.

It sounded like the man wanted to reveal the truth.

…''Don’t tell me…

A possibility came to her mind: did he actually just want to know the truth about Top-Gear’s destruction?

She looked to Hajji and his expression.

He was staring straight ahead at Sayama.

She started to say something when she saw it.

“…”

But she stopped.

Instead, she sighed and watched the man continue to stare at the boy.

He asked the boy a question while seeming to enjoy the questioning.

“Why did the two Shinjous try to create the concepts in Top-Gear despite knowing they could not? And why did your father try to take on all of the responsibility?”

Jord saw Hajji cross his arms and give an exaggerated tilt of the head.

“Why did one world choose self-destruction and the other choose to bear all responsibility?”

With her eyes closed, Mikoku listened to her other self.

“Hajji-kun, what kind of Gear was Top-Gear when you were there?”

''Yes,'' she thought before thinking exactly what Sayama said next.

“Was it an appropriate Gear to lead an alliance of every Gear?”

''If it was,'' she thought.

“Top-Gear would have tried to fulfill its responsibilities. Meaning…”

Mikoku took a breath just as Sayama did.

“They may have been unable to create the concepts, but as the Gear to lead all others, they had to create a place for Low-Gear.”

''So,'' thought Mikoku while squeezing her eyes more tightly shut and holding a hand to her chest.

“My father responded in kind. If they failed, he made sure Low-Gear would bear the responsibility for their destruction. …After all, Top-Gear was only lost because it attempted to prepare a place for Low-Gear.”

And Mikoku heard Hajji slowly breathe in and then speak.

“Is this what you are trying to say, Sayama? Top-Gear tried to restrain the activating negative concepts using the positive concepts held inside Noah, but Low-Gear determined that would never work and instead chose to eliminate Noah?”

“Yes. That is what led to that battle in Osaka. The people of Top-Gear attempted to preserve their Gear’s existence, but the people of Low-Gear attempted to prevent the negative concepts from reaching their Gear. …They were both trying to protect what they held dear.”

“I see,” said Hajji.

Mikoku noticed a satisfied note to Hajji’s tone.

…''Father?

But her doubt did not continue. She felt she should not delve into Hajji’s thoughts.

At the same time, she once more wondered how she should settle all of this.

And with her eyes still closed, she heard Hajji’s voice.

After going out of his way to make himself Sayama’s enemy, he spoke his honest thoughts.

“Sayama, you have reasoned through this quite well and I can accept quite a lot of it. But,” he said, “Where is the proof? I understand you deduced this from the past you saw in dreams and the documents you have found, but as your enemy, I require proof. Proof is needed to convince emotion.”

“Well…” trailed off Sayama.

He finally continued with a bitter tone.

“There is not yet any definitive proof.”

Mikoku heard a certain sound.

It was Hajji gulping.

“That is not good enough,” he said. “And either way, it does not change the fact that Top-Gear was destroyed. If Low-Gear eliminated Noah, then it is possible to say you destroyed Top-Gear which was supported by the positive concepts contained within the ship.”

“So the crime of destroying Top-Gear, the mother of all Gears, is that great, is it?”

“It is.” Hajji agreed. “With Top-Gear, every Gear could live together without releasing the concepts. …The creation of the world tells us as much. Top-Gear is the greatest of all Gears and the rebirth of the mother element.”

“So proof is needed to overturn it all.”

“Yes.”

For some reason, Mikoku noticed a hint of disappointment in Hajji’s voice.

“Without proof, everything you have said means nothing.”

At that point, Mikoku was able to guess at something.

And if she was right, the debate would end here or someone would stop it.

And a moment later, she heard a girl’s voice from the library entrance.

“Objection!”

Everyone turned toward the library entrance in surprise.

A girl stood there with a laptop.

Heo stood petrified and her face was completely pale.

She was clearly trembling with nerves and fear of something.

But her eyebrows rose and her footsteps rang through the room.

She passed the counter, passed the representative seats, ignored Sf silently aiming her heavy machineguns to keep the girl from interrupting, came to a stop between Sayama and Hajji, and turned toward Sf.

“I object to what Top-Gear’s substitute negotiator just said.”

“What is your objection?”

“Well,” she said while pulling out her cellphone. “I summoned Thunder Fellow and he’s sending the data over while reconfirming my findings. I’ll explain while we look at that. It’s kind of hard to say, but, um…”

She took a breath to eliminate her hesitation and then spoke clearly.

“There is a way for the twelve worlds to be created other than the theory given by Hajji.”

Heo handed her laptop to a nearby automaton and told her to project its video onto the counter’s whiteboard.

“Top-Gear was destroyed by the negative concepts running out of control.”

Everyone knew that. She saw Diana nod from the audience seats and hold up the report in her hand.

She felt like her teacher was telling her it was okay, which helped further eliminate her hesitation.

“But the negative concepts overtook Top-Gear too quickly, so Low-Gear made use of a certain plan. They…used a reverse seal to send Noah into the void.”

“And? Hm? What about it?”

She heard Hajji’s voice behind her.

“That is why Low-Gear only suffered the Great Kansai Earthquake, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, that’s right. But doesn’t everyone have a question about that?”

She asked that question.

“What exactly is the void?”

It was…

“It is a place with no time. …It lacks even nothingness.”

Behind Heo, darkness was projected onto the whiteboard.

At the same time, the library’s lights lowered and the dark light on the whiteboard was the only light left.

Heo’s words alone filled the library.

“Not even time has appeared there, so it is the starting point of the world. And…”

She took a breath.

“The starting point of every world is where Noah was sent!”

Shinjou breathed out into the waiting room.

Heo had run out of the room, but Thunder Fellow remained where he had broken through the classroom wall.

In Thunder Fellow’s cockpit, Harakawa was checking over Heo’s theory.

…''We’ve gotten so busy all of a sudden.

Shinjou was busy putting together an additional report regarding Heo’s theory.

It was short, but Ooki had worked hard to translate it and she was adding the publication data for the citations to increase its credibility.

She was copying over the publication data from Kinugasa Tenkyou’s mythology encyclopedia, which Kazami or Harakawa had handled previously.

She typed it in and then reached Kinugasa Tenkyou’s name.

Suddenly, she noticed something odd about the characters written in the publication data.

“Huh?”

She tilted her head and looked at the publication data of the other encyclopedia volumes.

She checked the second, third, fourth, and then skipped to the eleventh. That was when she realized something.

“Is this…?”

She stood up and ran from the room holding the report she had just printed out.

Ooki shouted after her.

“Wh-what is it, Shinjou-san!? This is the kind of suddenness I expect from Sayama-kun!”

“That is a horrible misunderstanding, but, um, uh… I have something important to take care of!”

She shouted back and ran down the hall toward the first floor and the library.

“I’ve realized something! Something incredibly…incredibly important!”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_32|Chapter 32]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_34|Chapter 34]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 30

2016-01-16T00:07:47Z

68.109.63.229:

==Chapter 30: How to Advance==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0225.png|thumb]]
''Now, what to do?

''Now, what do I want to do?

''Now, that has already been decided

Rocking had a surprising calming effect.

Shino woke when she sensed light and felt herself rocking.

…''Huh?

The last thing she remembered, she had been lying down. She had collapsed onto the bench atop the central park’s hill and been looking up into the dimly lit sky.

She had been wondering what she was doing.

But she saw something else now.

…''The light is shining on some kind of red wall.

She was clinging to something warm and rocking.

As soon as she wondered what it was, the answer came to her and her body shot up.

“Ryouko!?”

“Wow!! Don’t surprise me like that!!”

Ryouko was carrying Shino on her back. Because Shino suddenly sat up on the back of the woman’s red kimono and because Ryouko bent backwards in surprise, they naturally lost their balance.

They were currently walking along the sunlit sidewalk running alongside a road, but it had no guardrails.

“Whoops. Uh-uh-uh-uh-oh.”

Ryouko staggered and leaned back toward the road.

“Waaaaaah!”

“Eeeeeeek!”

Horns honked along the road and several dump trucks passed by.

Just as the trucks grazed the hair on the back of Shino’s head and she cowered down, the exhaust and wind washed over Ryouko and she dug her heels in to force herself back toward the sidewalk.

Once they settled back on the sidewalk, the two of them breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief and Ryouko gave an exasperated comment.

“Are you okay, Shi-chan?”

After smiling to Shino, Ryouko faced forward and began walking, so Shino frantically spoke up from her back.

“U-um, you can put me down.”

There was a lot she wanted to say, but she decided she had to say that first.

However, Ryouko did not even turn around to respond.

“Nope. I don’t want you going off and leaving.”

Shino shrank down at that.

''What should I do?'' she wondered. She did not know how to explain this, what she should say if Ryouko asked, or what she should do in the future, but she knew she had to say something.

“Ryouko… You aren’t mad?”

She gathered her resolve and asked, but Ryouko paused before simply tilting her head.

“I’m not sure.” The woman groaned in thought. “The people who found you said you had to have your reasons.”

“The people who found me?”

“That would be Taki-san and Ume-san who were homeless children fifty years ago and are still living that lifestyle to this day.”

Ryouko looked back with a smile and noticed Shino had gone pale.

“Don’t worry. They’re not bad people. They just have some problems is all. …And you know what? I’m not too good at getting mad. It’s so exhausting.”

“I see,” said Shino while relaxing her body and breathing in.

She then asked a question to the smiling face in front of her.

“Then you aren’t going to ask why I ran away?”

“Do you want to tell me?”

She hesitated to answer that.

“Sometimes you feel better when you’re asked.”

Still looking at the girl, Ryouko nodded once, twice, and then thrice.

“You know what?”

She immediately followed that question by tripping spectacularly on the curb of the sidewalk.

Shino was almost thrown right onto the road and she spent some more time covered in a cold sweat.

“Y-you can face forward if you want.”

“But it’s rude not to look at people when you speak with them.”

Ryouko smiled bitterly, but then she faced forward and began walking again.

“If it feels better to talk about it, does that mean it’s painful to keep it to yourself? And because you’ll feel better if you talk about it, you want to do so? Am I right?”

“…Yes.”

“Wow! I was just making that up, but I got it right! Maybe I could be a fortune teller!”

Shino smiled a little when she saw Ryouko celebrating so seriously. She also wondered why the woman was letting so much slide.

But that was exactly why she hung her head and pressed her forehead against Ryouko’s back.

“I’m sorry.”

“Hm? Why are you apologizing?”

“Because…”

Ryouko’s back shook slightly and Shino heard a laugh.

Ryouko lifted her up further and rocked back and forth as if to comfort her.

“I don’t know your reason, so why do you need to apologize?”

“B-but that’s because I haven’t told you.”

“Then there’s no need to apologize,” immediately replied Ryouko. “After all, I wouldn’t know what the apology meant.”

Shino was speechless and Ryouko’s back shook in laughter again.

“But that’s fine since you’re so cute, Shi-chan. You can stay with us as long as you want. And if you want to run away, you can do that too. …You can keep trying until you actually get away.”

“B-but I’m…betraying all of you…”

“I don’t know why you’re doing any of that, so…” Ryouko spoke clearly. “I think running away is just part of who you are.”

“But…”

Shino’s response was not quite a full protest and she pressed it into Ryouko’s back along with her forehead.

She then breathed in, but the trembling breath broke apart.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why don’t you hate me?” She opened her mouth to let out her trembling voice. “Someone I thought of like a sister did. She pushed me away… The more I tried to be with her, the farther she would push me away.”

“Did you want her to care for you?”

Shino nodded ever so slightly and the action sent tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.

“I wanted to be with her like always…”

“You know what?”

Ryouko’s back shook in laughter again and she shifted Shino’s position on her back.

“A long time ago, I cared so very much about someone.”

“Eh?”

“This really is embarrassing,” said Ryouko with a shrug. “But I never said anything to that person or made any kind of move. Why do you think that was? It’s a simple answer: I was a coward.”

Ryouko stopped walking.

“I knew what they would say if I did say something. They would have been incredibly considerate and tried to keep things the same as always. …And that thought was such a burden on me.”

“So you didn’t do anything?”

“But you said something, didn’t you?”

“…”

“And did the person you care about say anything to you?”

“No,” she weakly answered while slowly looking back in her memories. “But she did try to distance me from what she was doing.”

“Is that so?” Ryouko nodded and began walking again. “Then she didn’t hate you. She would only try to distance you if she cared about you. If she hated you or didn’t care about you, she wouldn’t have cared one way or the other.”

“…”

Shino heard the woman laugh.

“That person must be a coward. She was worried about you and cared about you, but she didn’t know how to say it. And because she knew what you wanted, she had no idea what to do.”

Ryouko laughed again, but bitterly this time.

“I completely lost out when I did that.”

Shino could not even nod, but she did lean up against Ryouko’s back.

…''I see.

She thought about one of the worries inside her.

…''I’m sorry, Mikoku.

She had wanted Mikoku to be her usual self, but she only just now realized she herself had not been acting like her usual self.

And had Mikoku understood that about her? Had Mikoku noticed that she had decided for herself that Mikoku was rejecting her?

…''If so…

What had Mikoku wanted of her but been unable to say?

…''She was always telling me not to fight or not to do some other thing.

What was the opposite of fighting?

“…”

A certain thought came to Shino. It may have just been a convenient idea, but…

“Do I not have to fight?”

She thought it was a selfish idea. She thought it was simply a way of running away from the fighting.

But…

“If you don’t want to, Shi-chan, then that’s fine.”

Shino found her vision blurring at Ryouko’s acceptance.

…''If Mikoku knew I wasn’t fighting and I was living with some kind people…

Would she be happy and not reject it?

While asking herself that, she gently clung to Ryouko’s back to confirm the answer for herself.

“Ryouko…”

There was so much she could not say and likely would never be able to say, but even though she remained silent, Ryouko spoke to her.

“Kouji said he was making some food and would be waiting for us. …Now, c’mon. That idiot said he was making Salisbury steak. How could he make something so greasy this early? And you prefer Japanese food, right?”

That brought a natural smile to Shino’s lips and more tears spilled from her eyes as she relaxed.

“But I like Kouji’s cooking.”

“That pedo has won you over better than I thought!! That is not the kind of news a sister wants to hear.”

Shino’s smile grew when she heard Ryouko’s laughter.

She then closed her eyes and rested on the woman’s back.

She rested on the back of someone from an opposite world, someone from an alternate version of her home, and someone she could perhaps call a sister.

…''Mikoku.

She called that previous name in her heart and peacefully drifted off to sleep.

…''I…

At the final moment, she breathed out and thought.

…''I might have a sister and brother in this world, too.

Lunchtime scenes filled the waiting rooms.

A short recess had followed the end of 5th-Gear’s question-and-answer session, so all of the Gear and UCAT representatives had moved to the concept space used for their waiting rooms.

Team Leviathan had done the same.

Sibyl had used the cafeteria to create a large boxed lunch set as well as some soba and stew. Ooki had been blessed with quite a few snacks and drinks while walking around the festival, so the classroom desks were just about covered.

Everyone grabbed what they wanted, piled it on a plate, and got back to work from their spot in the room.

Heo and Kazami were the ones with the most work to do.

“Shinjou-kun, have you finished?”

“Yes. Now I’m just waiting for Kazami-san and Harakawa-kun’s translation. Once I check over the layout, it just has to be copied. We can probably have it all out before the question-and-answer session with 9th-Gear.”

“Thank you,” said Sayama before Shinjou held a takoyaki out toward him. He grabbed it and looked across the table.

He looked to Heo’s back as she faced her laptop in Harakawa’s window-side seat.

“Heo-kun, thank you for the valuable question-and-answer session. …Now, how is your work there going? Have you found a hole in the world creation theory presented by Hajji-kun?”

Shinjou followed his gaze and first saw Heo facing them.

The ends of the girl’s eyebrows were lowered and she gave them a troubled smile.

“Sorry, but I just can’t seem to find a hole.”

Instead of tensing, her shoulders dropped straight down.

“Whenever the world is created from the mother element, it either plays out the way Kashima said or the way Hajji said. And only the latter is able to produce all twelve Gears.”

“So the world is siding with them? How rude of it. Especially since I own it,” said Sayama. “Well, not to worry. Before long, everyone will be residents of my world.”

That might as well have been an announcement of his victory, so Shinjou exchanged a glance with the others.

And all of the others naturally looked to her as if urging her on.

…''Why do I always get stuck doing this?

She sighed in her heart, faced Sayama, brushed back her hair, and tilted her head.

“How can you be so confident? And what do you mean by ‘before long’?”

She sounded troubled, but he replied with a smile.

“I will tell you once you give me the drink you just set down.”

She thought for a moment, looked around again, and found their gazes begging her to give it to him, but she could not help but worry over it a little longer.

“I-I’ll give it to you after you answer me.”

“Then I will answer,” he said casually while crossing his legs in his chair. “Based on a few different facts we already know, I believe I can tear down Top-Gear’s apparent advantage.”

Shinjou was more surprised by what he said than by the refreshing tone of his voice.

“After the question-and-answer sessions, we will move onto the trial and vote. That will surely involve a comparison of Top-Gear’s righteousness and the benefits of Low-Gear, but they will undoubtedly use their question-and-answer sessions to inform everyone just how cruel we were as we destroyed them.”

He expressionlessly looked specifically at Shinjou as he continued.

“But what if it was not a cruel choice? What if it was inevitable?”

“Inevitable?” she asked.

“What if Top-Gear had to be destroyed like that?”

“…!?”

As the others gasped, Sayama grabbed Shinjou’s cup from the table and gulped it down.

“Delicious! Truly an exceptional flavor!! It looked like coffee, so I never expected it to taste like this!”

“That’s actually the extra soba sauce I put in a cup because I didn’t have anything else to put it in.”

“…Did your mouth ever touch it?”

“Of course not. You’d have to be an idiot to drink that. It’s bad for your liver.”

“For a variety of reasons, I demand a redo!!”

“Calm down,” she said, so he nodded and sat down.

Then, as the representative of the others, Shinjou asked another question.

“Why do you think Top-Gear’s destruction was inevitable?”

“Before I answer, I would like a redo with something your mouth actually touched.”

“Kh.”

Shinjou hung her head and clenched her fist while whispering voices reached her from behind.

“Kaku, why is Sayama so obsessed with indirect kisses?”

“Because a 5th-Gear VIP said direct kisses make babies.”

“Th-that was only because I was negligent in my studies… But how are they really made?”

“Heo, Heo Thunderson. When you get back to the States, turn the TV on late at night. We can talk after that.”

Shinjou sighed as the conversation continued behind her.

“Well, I’ll give you something like that later, so can you please tell us? …Why do you think Top-Gear’s destruction was inevitable? Do you have any evidence?”

“There is evidence, even if only circumstantial. And it can be found in the report you wrote. It is the last of the three things that your mother said only Low-Gear has.”

“Eh?”

Shinjou frantically wondered if she had written anything like that.

“W-wait a minute. You know what that last thing is!?”

“I can only speculate at this point, so I cannot say for sure. Still, it is certain that Low-Gear has it.”

Sayama seemed to be confirming a fact for himself.

Shinjou was left speechless by how sudden this was, so she simply sat back down.

…''Is there really something like what my mom mentioned?

She had used herself to answer Wanambi’s riddle. She did not know what the actual answer was, but Sayama claimed ''something like that'' did exist in Low-Gear.

And he had likely found whatever it was in the past and in the facts they had searched out.

“I plan to use this to our advantage in the question-and-answer session with Top-Gear.”

“I…see…”

Shinjou placed a finger on her forehead and thought for the span of a breath.

“But why would this thing that Low-Gear has make Top-Gear’s destruction inevitable?”

“It is a silly thing. A truly silly thing,” he said. “Yes, and that silly thing is why your mother moved to Top-Gear, why your father hesitated, and why my father decided to destroy Top-Gear. Also…”

“Also?”

“Top-Gear had to be destroyed and it was not in fact destroyed by my father’s hand. Because they attempted to lead all of the Gears, Top-Gear destroyed themselves.”

“!?”

The first to speak was Ooki.

“U-um, Sayama-kun!? Um, I…uh…well…”

“Sayama!” cut in Kazami. “If you say that without any definite proof, none of the Gears are going to believe a word you say! They’ll claim you’re making things up to escape Low-Gear’s crimes!”

“Th-that’s right! That’s what I was trying to say!”

Everyone did the right thing and ignored Ooki.

They all watched Sayama as he placed a hand on his crossed leg and pulled the knee toward himself.

“But stating this is the only way to win. As the evil ones, we must deny our crimes. And that is something only we can do because we were the ones to search out the evidence. Also, this is something only a villain like me can do.”

“B-but are you sure? If they argue back, they’ll be able to defeat such a ridiculous claim.”

He simply shrugged at Shinjou’s question.

“I still lack a few pieces of evidence and a lot still does not fit together, but I will of course be able to compensate for that. I would like to gather my thoughts and finish putting together my argument before the question-and-answer sessions with 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th have ended,” he said. “So please keep working until then, Heo-kun. If you find some kind of answer, it will surely help my argument.”

He then turned to Hiba and Izumo.

“8th’s session is sure to be short. Probably less than ten minutes. And I doubt 9th or 10th will give us much time to work with. So…I have one request.”

“You want us to buy you some time, Sayama-san?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I should be able to organize my thoughts if I have two hours to work with. I can likely extend the sessions with 9th and 10th to buy an hour, but 8th will likely only be ten minutes. So…you two need to buy me the remaining fifty minutes.”

“Fine then.”

Shinjou saw Izumo nod and scratch his head.

“I prefer to make sure every word out of my mouth is meaningful (except right before going to bed), but I guess I’ll have to make an exception.”

Kazami’s elbow struck him in the center of the gut.

In another waiting room, two people stared out the window as they ate.

One was Mikoku who wore a men’s black suit and the other was Tatsumi who wore a khaki-colored combat coat.

Mikoku sat parallel to the window on the windowsill and Tatsumi sat on top of four desks pushed together.

Mikoku patted the head of a large white dog sitting on the floor at her feet.

Tatsumi grabbed a convenience store bag and pulled out a can of beer she had bought off campus.

“I was afraid of this. It’s lukewarm now. Well, that strengthens the taste, so I guess it’s fine.”

“Do not drink too much. It would be a problem if something happened.”

“Don’t worry. My other self still hasn’t fully healed from the injuries he got somewhere.”

“Injuries?”

“That’s right,” said Tatsumi. “His left side wasn’t tensing up properly. He probably has a charm or something there.”

“I am amazed you can tell that.”

Mikoku stared out the window and took a bite of the hot dog she had bought at a festival stand.

Tatsumi’s voice reached her from behind.

“Do you enjoy looking out there?”

“This is my first time at a festival like this.”

“Don’t make excuses. Personally, I love festivals.”

“Even though it is a part of Low-Gear life?”

“We’re living our lives here too. Hating it will only make it feel more oppressive. You and Shino take all this so seriously, but…”

She heard a bitter laugh from Tatsumi.

“Are the two of you okay now?”

“I do not know,” replied Mikoku with a hand on her chest. “I…kind of think I am fine now. And Shino…Shino is apparently somewhere where she can live a normal life if she wants. And that sounds good to me.”

“Quit trying to act strong. Women who do that end up with nothing and lose so much. Did you know that?”

“Then I will head out and take what I want.”

Mikoku saw people in school uniforms and festival outfits walking around outside.

The stands sold their wares, music played, and the people were likely speaking.

But she could not reach any of it from here.

“There is nothing to worry about.”

She clenched the hand on her chest.

“It will reach.”

As soon as she said that, the classroom door opened.

When they heard the scraping of the rail, Tatsumi, Mikoku, and Shiro all turned around.

Someone wearing white stood in the door.

“Hajji?”

“Yes,” replied the man with his right hand covering his mouth. “The second half of the question-and-answer sessions is about to begin. But…”

Mikoku heard him laugh.

“Jord and I came up with a bit of a plan. How about we throw some more pressure onto Low-Gear? Hm? How about it, Mikoku? Are you in the mood for a challenge?”

“A challenge?”

“Yes.” Hajji spread his arms. “We can enjoy a nice debate with Low-Gear.”

At one in the afternoon, the question-and-answer sessions resumed.

Izumo sat with Boldman in the seats for 6th-Gear, but that was because V-Sw had chosen Izumo as its master and because Boldman, the primary representative, had suggested it.

6th-Gear had already joined UCAT and had only just lost the battle from the other day, so the question-and-answer sessions progressed smoothly with few issues.

As the people in the representative seats and audience seats listened to the discussion, they all felt it was progressing too quickly.

They all had their thoughts on the sudden announcement of this meeting, but they generally assumed Top-Gear had refused to give Low-Gear any time to think.

Every minute and second had to be valuable to Sayama, but a puzzled-looking Boldman worked through 6th-Gear’s session without issue.

In general, they agreed that the 6th-Gear people currently in UCAT’s standard and special divisions would be positioned around the world as personnel for the policing and rescue organizations 3rd and 5th would be setting up.

“As 6th-Gear’s people are already familiar with UCAT’s tactics and equipment, I can promise you they will be received as officers.”

With that, Sayama completed the question-and-answer session.

Only about five minutes had passed, making it the shortest of all the sessions so far.

Everyone looked to Sayama, wondering if he had a plan to buy some time to think or if he had thought out his argument enough to no longer need any time.

But just as Sf was going to declare 6th-Gear’s session complete, Izumo stood up from the seat next to Boldman.

“Hold up. Are you serious about 6th-Gear’s people getting to be officers? This bald guy’s gonna be my superior?”

As he spoke to Sayama, he slapped the hairless head next to him.

“That’s just gonna give him a swelled bald head.”

Everyone gulped, but Boldman kept his head low and tried to resist.

“Not to worry,” said Sayama. “If his head swells, he can be used to reenact the ‘Hand-Washing Water’ rakugo story.”

“Ha ha ha. Isn’t that great, Boldman? When you’re bald, people believe you’re just being modest. Isn’t being bald great? It’s hygienic, it helps you cool down, and…”

Izumo slapped Boldman’s head like someone hitting a quiz show buzzer.

“And it looks indecent! It’s just the best!”

Almost immediately, an enraged shout signaled the beginning of a violent brawl.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_29|Chapter 29]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_31|Chapter 31]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 22

2016-01-16T00:03:40Z

68.109.63.229:

==Chapter 22: Looking Back in the Snow==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0059.png|thumb]]
''As if afraid of the white snow

''My voice seeks the darkness

''But the voice of the darkness refers to me as snow

A large room was decorated for Christmas.

Even the sign in the cafeteria that said Soukou House had chains of colored paper hanging from it and those colorful chains covered the ceiling as well.

Below the white lights, Shinjou sat on a white bench with notebooks and letters spread out before her and Sayama held a cellphone to his ear.

Shinjou saw the director walk past the cafeteria entrance, so she gave a quick bow.

The woman nodded back and Shinjou smiled before facing forward.

The documents in front of her were the records of Shinjou Yukio that she had not had time to read before or that they had brought with them. The director had found more since Shinjou’s last visit, so there was a small pile of notebooks, albums, and letters on the table.

…''It’s nice being able to learn as much as I can.

She felt like she was filling the gaps left inside herself.

The others seemed to be taking action in their own ways and Sayama was currently on the phone with Heo.

It had been a long call, Sayama occasionally spoke up so Shinjou could hear, and Heo was telling him what Harakawa’s mother had told her about the past. However, that was reaching its end.

“I see. Then are you about to head home, Heo-kun? …Yes, take care.”

Sayama ended the call and Shinjou turned toward him.

“It sounds like they’re having trouble over there. Did Ryuuji-kun do something again?”

“Yes.” Sayama nodded and crossed his arms. “From what Heo-kun said, he renegotiated with 2nd-Gear by letting a 2nd-Gear man penetrate him with his sword, which produced a lot of blood. Currently, he is stuck in bed, defenseless against all the ‘attacks’ the others are sending his way.”

Shinjou frowned and the two of them thought on what he had said.

“Was part of that a euphemism?”

“Shinjou-kun, are you suggesting that the Hiba boy’s heart has migrated to the side of men?”

“N-no, of course not. I was only kidding. Heo must have said it wrong.”

“But would she really say anything wrong to us after the ‘thisp’ incident?”

They fell silent for about a minute but eventually cleared their throats.

Deciding not to think about anything unpleasant, Shinjou gathered together the documents on the table.

“Come to think of it, Sayama-kun, you were speaking with the director earlier, weren’t you? Do you mind if I ask what about?”

“Oh, she was only talking about my grandfather.”

He brought a hand to his chest and smiled bitterly.

“I only confirmed that he did know how to keep up the appearance of being a good person.”

“He was apparently the one who delivered my mom’s letters.”

“Heh heh heh. Being someone’s gofer is perfect for that wicked old man. Work until you die. Although I suppose it is too late for that.”

“You’re as twisted as ever.”

“If you twist far enough, you end up facing straight forward again, Shinjou-kun. But anyway, were you able to hand over the gift you brought?”

“Yes.” Shinjou smiled. “The director gave me so much last time, so I bought our school cafeteria’s famous Kinugasa Gelatin. It’s amazing. It has 0% fruit juice, but it apparently still tastes like fruit.”

“Heh heh heh. Shinjou-kun, your ignorant naïveté is lovely and right in my strike zone. But…it is disappointing that the item I prepared in the cafeteria did not catch your eye.”

“Yes, yes. …Wait. Is that why there was ‘Shinjou Konjac Gelatin’ in the cafeteria gift corner!?”

“All the fiber is gentle on the stomach.”

“You aren’t backing down, are you? Are you? You instantly decided not to back down and moved about three steps ahead, didn’t you?”

“Calm down, Shinjou-kun. I know it is a disappointment that I was only able to prepare the Se-chan flavor in time. But do not fear. I secretly drew myself on the underside, so we are inseparable. No matter what happens, you are still mine and mine alone.”

“But that means we have our backs to each other.”

“How careless of me! But the way our backs are pressed together is unbearably delicious!”

''He isn’t going fix this even if I warn him,'' realized Shinjou. ''In fact, I feel like he’s actually pulling me in.

So she instead flipped through the documents again.

Among the letters sent here, one had been brought from Top-Gear by Sayama’s grandfather. It of course said nothing about Top-Gear or concepts, but it mentioned that she had begun to manage a church of her own.

…''The funding was given by someone calling themselves “The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs”.

The letter said Shinjou Yukio did not know who that was but that she was thankful.

''Given the name, I wonder if it was that world’s version of Sayama-kun’s grandfather,'' speculated Shinjou. ''No, if it was, it would be Mommy-Long-Legs or Granny-Long-Legs.

“I wonder what happened.”

“What happened with what?”

Sayama casually urged her on, so she gave voice to her thoughts.

“I must have been on Noah with my mom, but why was that? My parents weren’t getting along.”

“And yet you were born. Is that a problem?”

She did not nod because even she was doubtful whether it was a problem or not.

“What if I was an unwanted child?”

She turned around and saw Sayama accepting her words with his usual expressionless look, so she spoke with the new letter in hand.

“My mom had people who were cheering her on, but she didn’t get along with my dad because she did not want to actively help them. She had allies, so why was I born between her and the man she was trying to keep her distance from?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. But…I do wonder why.”

The letter in her hand eloquently described a moment in the past. It was from the time in which her mother had had trouble with her father.

“I always refuse, but he keeps showing up. My hymns are gradually spreading through the local people, but he keeps his distance from all of them and watches me. And when I approach him, he only ever says he wants my help with his work.”

Shinjou checked to make sure Sayama was reading the letter and let her shoulders droop.

“To be blunt, your father may have been something of a stalker.”

“I was thinking about saying the same thing. …I bet the two of you would have gotten along well.”

“What are you talking about? Stalking is a crime.”

“Then what is it you’re always doing?”

“If you and I are not in the center of the world together, the world could very well fall out of balance and receive irreparable damage.”

Shinjou was speechless and she blushed a little.

“Y-you really like making up weird theories about the world, don’t you?”

“Checking on the answer does not change that answer, Shinjou-kun. Now…how about we set the world in motion just a little?”

Sayama stood up and forcefully tugged on her hand.

She hesitated for a moment.

“Wh-where are we going? I haven’t read all of the documents yet.”

“Not to worry. Right now, we must go to the place Shinjou Yukio, your mother, stood.”

He looked through the cafeteria’s glass door and outside.

There was a gate at the park’s exit, an asphalt road filled with the darkness of night beyond the gate, and…

“The answer must lie in the wreckage of the collapse.”

Sayama and Shinjou stepped out into the dark yard.

He was pulling Shinjou along, but she quickly moved up alongside him.

“We’re going to see the past?”

“Some kind of impetus is needed to see the past. Baku uses that impetus to show it to us. That is how we will check to see if our reasoning about the past is accurate.”

“You mean…”

Sayama nodded and continued for her.

“It is simple. We only need to find proof that your parents came to understand each other.”

He turned toward her and held out his empty hand.

“Can you give me the letters you have already read?”

“S-sure.”

Sayama belatedly realized their breath appeared white in the cold air as they exchanged words.

''The gas synthesized within Shinjou-kun is dissolving into the air,'' he realized.

“Shinjou-kun, may I stand downwind of you?”

“''Why''?”

He thought up an excuse. ''This happened when we were exchanging drinks at the train station before,'' he recalled. ''I went with the direct truth then and that was a failure.

''In that case, I merely need to be less direct,'' he decided while smiling to lower her guard.

“Because your white breath smells sweetly of mint.”

“That sounds like a perverted comment in some schoolboy’s journal!!”

She shoved the letters toward his face and he tilted his head.

…''Complaining about a compliment? She is so very shy.

''Well, modesty is a very Japanese virtue,'' he thought. ''And Kenjou, Japanese for modesty, sounds quite a lot like Shinjou.

“Sayama-kun, are you going to read them or not?”

“I am,” he replied to her glaring eyes while walking toward the park’s exit.

He looked down to the text and found it had been sent to his father.

“Something good and something bad happened today. First the good thing: I can build a bell tower thanks to someone’s donation. Apparently, the director who actually runs the church knows who donated the money, but she won’t tell me who it is. She apparently signed a contract with the donor and she can’t tell me until the church is complete. But on her suggestion, I had a sign set up at the gate. The director named it the Nisho Church. I’m guessing she took the first character from ‘The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs’ and added on the last character of my name.”

The next letter described some conflict with her other self.

“Something bad happened again today. I ran into this world’s version of me. He says the funding for spreading the Bible is going to be redirected toward developing terminals for Noah.”

''I see,'' thought Sayama.

Shinjou’s mother had defected to Top-Gear, but she had not promised her full cooperation.

She had worked to create a place for Low-Gear there, but before Shinjou’s birth, she had not helped with their concept creation and had been uncooperative.

She had likely wanted to stick to her role as advisor and allow Top-Gear to maintain its dignity.

At the same time, the higher ups of Top-Gear had not wanted her full cooperation. More than anything, they seemed to have wanted to show off that they had a defector from Low-Gear.

That may still have been a peaceful and relaxed time.

…''But as an actual researcher, Top-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio had realized the difficulty and danger of concept creation.

That had led to conflict between them.

And Sayama imagined Low-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio must have made a decision after that conflict.

…''She decided to take personal command of the concept creation and to give birth to Shinjou-kun.

''What led her to do that?'' he wondered while nodding again.

Meanwhile, Shinjou produced an odd footstep next to him and asked a sudden question.

“Sayama-kun, why…why are you trying to learn about my parents?”

“You have doubts about your parents, so is it wrong to want to eliminate those doubts?”

He did not turn toward her as he asked that and she paused for three seconds before responding.

“It is. After all, you won’t look at me.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded and slowed his pace a bit.

The ground was solid below his feet and he sensed her to his side.

He showed her his expression by letting her stand by his side rather than by turning back toward her.

Even as she spoke, he thought that was a cowardly way to show her his emotions.

“Why did my father choose my mother?” he asked.

“…”

“As a result, I was protected by my mother and survived. There is nothing wrong with the result.”

He found it was difficult to speak without allowing his white breath to become a sigh.

“But I would appreciate it if that decision was made for a happy reason. My father realized he should choose my mother, but he likely did so because your parents chose each other.”

He took a breath.

“I want your parents to have chosen each other for a happy reason. That way, my father would have celebrated the decision and noticed my mother’s presence. He would have realized she was the only one he had.”

“Sorry.”

“Thank me instead, Shinjou-kun.”

“I-I don’t think that would get the right meaning across.”

“But I would prefer to have your thanks than your apology. The meaning does not matter as far as that is concerned.”

Sayama picked up his pace again.

He could see the gate ahead.

He pulled Shinjou’s hand in close, pulled her body in close, and placed an arm around her shoulders.

She spoke quietly as he helped keep the cold away.

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you.”

As they exchanged thanks, they approached the gate and walked through.

The streetlights briefly cut off their view, so it felt like stepping out into another world.

But that other world had an asphalt ground and a cliff.

“You can see so much.”

The night scenery opened up down below.

The nearby lights were from houses and cars driving along the roads. The more distant lights were from the port and the boats on the sea.

Shikoku, through which they had travelled that afternoon, was visible as a band of light past the bridge over the Naruto Strait.

“Your mother must have seen this scenery in both Low-Gear and Top-Gear.”

Sayama and Shinjou stopped in front of the gate remaining before the cliff.

Sayama then breathed in and faced Shinjou.

“Now, time for some questions.”

“Eh? W-wait. Where did this come from?”

Shinjou frowned in confusion, but Sayama ignored it.

He raised three fingers in front of her.

“You must answer three questions. If you do not…”

“I-I have to strip?”

“…That is a great idea, Shinjou-kun!!”

“Oh, no! Why did I have to say that!? Forget I said anything!!”

She quickly tried to flee, but he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.

“Now, for question one.”

“W-wait a second! I haven’t pressed my mental start button yet!”

He waited a little, so she slowly turned around and tilted her head worriedly.

“Y-you won’t really make me…right?”

He immediately nodded with a smile.

“Unfortunately, that is incorrect. The correct answer was ‘Artluman’s seventh special attack is the eye jab’, Shinjou-kun.”

“What kind of question has an answer like that!?”

He ignored her and held out his hand as if asking for her to give him something.

She forced a smile and jabbed a finger into his palm.

“What’s this hand for? Money?”

“Of course not. This is for something which has a value that cannot be bought, Shinjou-kun.”

She sighed and resignedly removed her tie.

“Fine, fine. Make do with this.”

As suggested, he made do. Namely, he wrapped it around his forehead.

“Now, time for question two, Shinjou-kun.”

“Y-you’re still doing this!?”

“Unfortunately, that is incorrect. The correct answer was ‘Kamen Vader 1 died by-…”

“O-oh! Oh! He held a nuclear bomb in his arms, bungee jumped off Tokyo Tower, and destroyed Tokyo!”

“I am really not sure what he was hoping to accomplish with that. …But how did 2 die?”

“Ah, that’s a cheap question!!”

“The answer was ‘he collided with 1 after performing a Super Headbutt to catch him from below’.”

As he spoke, Sayama removed another piece of clothing from Shinjou.

“Eh?”

After about seven seconds, Shinjou looked down.

“Um…”

She frantically held down the front and back of her skirt and crouched down. She was also blushing.

“S-Sayama-kun!? Wh-what was that for all of a sudden!?”

“These are not the panties you wore this morning, Shinjou-kun. …Strings? Were you expecting something to happen!?”

“No, I’ve changed clothes since this morning and I thought these would be easier to walk in. …More importantly, give them back!”

“Restrain that which has at long last found freedom? I could never do something so cruel! I must protect this.”

“Protect? Come to think of it, I’d noticed some of my underwear was vanishing from the closet.”

“Yes. To make sure they would not be stolen and to ensure I would have some on hand whenever you needed them, I placed them under my strict supervision.”

“So it was you!!”

“W-wait, Shinjou-kun! You misunderstand! I am pure!”

“Yes, it was a misunderstanding to ever think you were innocent. You’re obviously pure here. Pure guilty!”

''This makes for a nice daily life too,'' thought Sayama as he received a moderate strangling. But just as he began to give in to the asphyxiation, he restrained himself and quickly tapped Shinjou’s hand.

“C-calm down, Shinjou-kun. And at any rate, it is time for the third and final question.”

Shinjou stopped moving with her arms still reaching toward his neck.

She must have assumed saying anything would lead to further clothing being removed because she remained silent.

So Sayama exhaled and opened his mouth for the final question.

“Question 3: In the Kinugasa Library, we saw Miss Shinjou Yukio standing in the snow. The building next to her had a concert hall and bell tower. In other words, that was the completed version of her church. The gate likely had a sign calling it the Nisho Church. But…”

He looked over to where the cherry tree had to have been.

“She spun around in front of that completed building. So why did she do that? Why did she spin around and spread her arms as if to show off the completed building?”

He asked his question.

“Who was she showing it off to?”

Shinjou raised her eyebrows at Sayama’s question.

…''Come to think of it…

That dream of the past had only lasted a moment, so it had looked like the woman was dancing.

But that was unlikely to be the case. Below that snow-covered cherry tree, she had turned toward someone.

After looking into Osaka’s sky where Noah floated in the darkness, she had turned toward someone behind her with a look of joy over the completed church.

“Was that…my dad?”

“What do you think?”

She heard the toe of Sayama’s shoe tap hard against the ground.

“He must have been standing here, below the gate. Most likely without an umbrella.”

“Without an umbrella?”

“Your mother did not have one either. Don’t you think your mother had a childish side to her in that way?”

Shinjou thought about the mother she had no memory of.

“You’re right.”

When her mother had turned around, the look in her eyes had been confident that someone was there watching her.

Shinjou looked to her mother who had once turned around here in another world. She directly returned the woman’s gaze.

“I had a thought, too.”

“And what was that?”

“Well, whenever my mom was faced with something painful or unpleasant, she would hide it behind a weak smile,” she explained. “So why did she write about my dad in her letters? She said she had trouble with him and did not like him without trying to hide it.”

“That is a new fact I had not noticed. And on that snowy day…”

She knew what Sayama was saying, so she nodded and continued for him.

“She must have been announcing to my dad that the church was finished. She would have said something more sacred than Noah had been built. …And she would have said they might be able to create the Biblical mythology in that world.”

Shinjou spoke her thoughts while fully aware it was only a convenient hope.

“My mom may have been trying to put Top-Gear and Low-Gear on the same level by giving Top-Gear the Biblical mythology they lacked. Instead of creating concepts and waging war, she wanted to provide each world what they lacked as well as something they could believe in. …And so she pretended to defect.”

Sayama said nothing, so she breathed in.

She touched the metal gate and looked into the distance where she pictured her mother’s gaze in midair.

“My mom must have turned my dad away. She would have told him they would be just fine without Noah and she must have asked him to stop inviting her in and to instead listen to ''her'' invitation.”

She took a breath.

“That wasn’t mentioned in the letters, but I’m sure of it. She had to have given him an invitation, too. If not, he wouldn’t have continued coming here.”

She hesitated, but she decided to say it.

She gave the identity of the individual who her mother had wondered about, the one who had donated to have the church built.

“If not, he wouldn’t have secretly funded the construction of the church.”

She breathed out and told herself not to cry. She willed the tears back because she had not reached the conclusion yet.

But next to her, Sayama placed an arm around her shoulders and asked a question.

“Why do you think Top-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio was ‘The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs’?”

“It’s simple. The name Nisho Church partially came from that alias.” She gave a powerful nod at her own words. “And if you place the characters for ‘Pair’ on top of each other, they become the final character in Top-Gear Yukio’s name.”

Shinjou looked up toward that space in an alternate world where a gate with that name would have existed.

“When the church was finished, my mom would have heard the truth from the director. There’s no, no, no way the director would have been able to just watch on after seeing her turn my dad away.”

''I would have done the same,'' thought Shinjou as her voice rose to a shout.

“My mom chased after him when he silently left without looking back, didn’t she!?”

Her question roused Baku on Sayama’s head.

He gave her the answer to her question about the past.

A snowy slope was a poor place to run, but she ran.

It was night, but the snow filled the air with pale light and Low-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio ran down the slope in a lab coat.

Snow got in her shoes and chilled her feet as it melted.

But she still ran. The snow snatched at her feet, but she kept herself from slipping by continuing ever onward.

“Wait!”

Her white breath and her voice did not reach him.

The back of a lab coat walked away through the snow and did not turn around.

“Wait up!”

She breathed in, felt the cold air stabbing at the back of her throat, and stumbled through the snow.

Her slow pace frustrated her and she could tell she was not catching up.

She wondered if it was curiosity or interest driving her to reach him.

“Wait.”

The lab coat up ahead did not wait, so she pushed herself even faster.

“Ah!”

Her foot got caught in one of his footprints and she tripped.

Instead of falling to her knees, she fully collapsed to the left.

She was lucky the snow had accumulated as much as it had. The asphalt did not scrape at her skin and she actually scraped away the snow. She sat up to knock away the snow that had been pushed up onto her.

She sighed while sitting in the snow and she finally realized she was sweating.

…''Why?

Why was she so desperate? She did not know.

“Wait.”

With that word, tears spilled from her eyes for some reason.

She sobbed and her shoulders rose and fell.

“Wait…”

She muttered the word and brought her hands to her eyes like a child.

She saw a tall figure in a white lab coat standing before her.

He was there.

His sharp eyes looked directly at her and seemed to pierce right through her.

“…!!”

She blushed and quickly stood, but she slipped on the snow she had packed down and she almost fell backwards.

Swinging her arms was not enough to keep her balance, and…

“—————”

She did not fall.

She noticed he had grabbed her right hand. And with almost painful strength.

…''He saved me.

She wanted to say something and wondered if she should thank him.

But as soon as he let go, she used her left hand to slap him.

The high-pitched sound filled the air, the snow accumulated on his shoulders scattered away, and she shouted.

“What is the meaning of this!?”

She planted her feet on the ground and slapped him again. The sound of the second strike permeated the snow.

“Why…Why would you do something like that?”

He returned her gaze and relaxed his shoulders.

“What would ‘that’ be?”

She felt her body temperature rising at that question and she swung her left arm to point up the slope.

“You don’t know what you did!? You funded the construction of that church!”

She breathed in and formed words at the volume of a yell.

“Were you taking pity on me!? Or were you trying to bribe me!? Did someone order you to do it? What were you trying to do!? And…what were you thinking!?”

With her firm expression intact and unexpected tears in the corners of her eyes, she forced a laugh.

She wiped away the tears with her sleeve and took a shrill breath, but forced a smile with her eyebrows raised.

“That must have been amusing! You got to watch a silly woman go on and on about how proud of the church she was without realizing you had paid for it all! She had been manipulated by you the entire time, but she ignorantly acted like someone important!”

After that, she lowered the ends of her eyebrows, and asked the true question she had saved until after the unnecessary complaints.

“Why!? Why would you do that after we tried so much to distance ourselves from each other!?”

That shouted question produced a reaction in the man.

He looked up a bit toward the heavens.

At the top of the slope was a church and past that was Noah.

He stared in the distance beyond the snowy darkness.

“It wasn’t some impressive reason.”

“Just tell me!”

At her urging, he closed his eyes, breathed in, and spoke with an exasperated tone.

“I simply wanted you to succeed.”

“For me to!?”

His eyes were closed, so he did not see her expression.

He only lowered his head and continued.

“No matter what, I have to create concepts and prepare this world to fight. And eventually, Top-Gear will be unable to trust visitors from the other world like you. Once the enemy could arrive at any moment, the world will begin to think fortifying our defenses is the best way to spread peace.”

He did not stop there.

“But most likely, you are right, Shinjou Yukio. No matter what happens, you will still be right, Shinjou Yukio. You did not choose Top-Gear or Low-Gear. You made the right decision and chose to be a bridge between all Gears. You chose something I could not and you are undoubtedly right.”

He then said “but” and “so”.

“I wanted to see just how much your way of thinking could change the world. I wanted to see how much the true feelings of my other self could change the world.”

“…”

“Listen,” he said. “The donations I made to you might as well have been made to me. Your pride in the completed church gave me joy. I got to see just how much my other self could accomplish.”

He opened his eyes and looked to her.

For the first time, he narrowed his eyes with a small smile on his lips.

“That is why I funded the church, my other self. I chose to remain a man of this world, so you outdid me. From now on, I will be able to see the light of your church from Noah. I will also hear its bell. And that will be proof that there is at least one thing in this world that someone wished for. That will be one thing I truly managed to create for this world.”

With that, he turned around and bent his back a little.

“Farewell.”

The man in a lab coat took a step away into the falling snow.

As soon as he did, she did not hesitate.

“Wait!”

She wrapped her arms around him from behind.

She embraced the lab coat to stop him from continuing down the slope.

She knew she could not force him.

…''This man…

He had already restrained himself for the good of this world, so he would not give into force.

She would need a will that surpassed his if she was to stop him.

So she shouted loud enough for her voice to pass through his back.

“Please tell me!”

She breathed in.

“Someday, god will reside in this place! You built the very first place for god’s voice to be heard in this land! No lies are permitted there and anything you confess will be forgiven. So…so please tell me. What do you want from me!?”

And…

“You understand, don’t you? Someone on your level has to know the data I gave you was modified and you have to know why…why I won’t create concepts in this Gear!”

“I do know. You are another version of me, after all.”

He slowly chose his words.

“I understand why you are making it so we cannot create concepts.”

She nodded at his answer.

“You understand, but you can’t do what I’m doing?”

“The higher ups would never accept that Top-Gear is inferior to Low-Gear in any way. That is why I have chosen my path and left you to do things your way. I have now settled things with you, so you can continue doing things as you please. And…”

She felt him sigh.

“Are you going to waste everything I have given you?”

“We still don’t know if I can waste it.”

To erase his trembling sigh, she pressed her own breath into his back.

“Are you afraid of your own words? Are you afraid of the words that will ruin everything I have?”

Tears spilled out as she exhaled.

“Tell me. Please tell me, my other self. I have always chosen to give instead of receive, but if I am truly wanted in this world, then tell me what that means.”

He slowly took a breath. He breathed in instead of out.

The oxygen was cooled by the snow, so it pricked at his lungs as he spoke.

“I want you to help me settle everything for this world…no, for all worlds.”

She listened to his trembling voice.

These were the words of her other self.

“I truly have no interest in bringing an end to conflict or in what is right or wrong. I simply want all Gears to care for the world.”

After all…

“If every Gear is righteous, then no Gear has erred. The destruction was not brought on by people’s mistakes. I want to say that the destruction came about because they were right.”

So…

“Please help me, Shinjou Yukio. Help me make sure this world does not err in the righteousness it so desires. I want your knowledge, your skills, and your songs. That way the light and sound you have created and all else that was born of true righteousness will never vanish from the remaining world.”

“Is that…what you wanted?”

“Yes,” he said. “When I first learned about Low-Gear as a child, I thought about your presence there. And when I saw you playing the organ in that church, I wished for your happiness. I remember the very first words you spoke from the pulpit: Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

He asked a question.

“Answer me, my other self. Was I wrong? If so, I will apologize for funding what you have made.”

She did not answer, but she did let go of him and circled around in front of him.

In the snow, the two of them slowly moved in close.

“—————”

The bell rang. The brand-new bell rang.

The ringing permeated the snow as it carried into the distance.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_21|Chapter 21]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_23|Chapter 23]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume13 Chapter 22

2016-01-16T00:02:20Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 22: Looking Back in the Snow */

==Chapter 22: Looking Back in the Snow==
[[Image:OnC_v13_0059.png|thumb]]
''As if afraid of the white snow

''My voice seeks the darkness

''But the voice of the darkness refers to me as snow

A large room was decorated for Christmas.

Even the sign in the cafeteria that said Soukou House had chains of colored paper hanging from it and those colorful chains covered the ceiling as well.

Below the white lights, Shinjou sat on a white bench with notebooks and letters spread out before her and Sayama held a cellphone to his ear.

Shinjou saw the director walk past the cafeteria entrance, so she gave a quick bow.

The woman nodded back and Shinjou smiled before facing forward.

The documents in front of her were the records of Shinjou Yukio that she had not had time to read before or that they had brought with them. The director had found more since Shinjou’s last visit, so there was a small pile of notebooks, albums, and letters on the table.

…''It’s nice being able to learn as much as I can.

She felt like she was filling the gaps left inside herself.

The others seemed to be taking action in their own ways and Sayama was currently on the phone with Heo.

It had been a long call, Sayama occasionally spoke up so Shinjou could hear, and Heo was telling him what Harakawa’s mother had told her about the past. However, that was reaching its end.

“I see. Then are you about to head home, Heo-kun? …Yes, take care.”

Sayama ended the call and Shinjou turned toward him.

“It sounds like they’re having trouble over there. Did Ryuuji-kun do something again?”

“Yes.” Sayama nodded and crossed his arms. “From what Heo-kun said, he renegotiated with 2nd-Gear by letting a 2nd-Gear man penetrate him with his sword, which produced a lot of blood. Currently, he is stuck in bed, defenseless against all the ‘attacks’ the others are sending his way.”

Shinjou frowned and the two of them thought on what he had said.

“Was part of that a euphemism?”

“Shinjou-kun, are you suggesting that the Hiba boy’s heart has migrated to the side of men?”

“N-no, of course not. I was only kidding. Heo must have said it wrong.”

“But would she really say anything wrong to us after the ‘thisp’ incident?”

They fell silent for about a minute but eventually cleared their throats.

Deciding not to think about anything unpleasant, Shinjou gathered together the documents on the table.

“Come to think of it, Sayama-kun, you were speaking with the director earlier, weren’t you? Do you mind if I ask what about?”

“Oh, she was only talking about my grandfather.”

He brought a hand to his chest and smiled bitterly.

“I only confirmed that he did know how to keep up the appearance of being a good person.”

“He was apparently the one who delivered my mom’s letters.”

“Heh heh heh. Being someone’s gofer is perfect for that wicked old man. Work until you die. Although I suppose it is too late for that.”

“You’re as twisted as ever.”

“If you twist far enough, you end up facing straight forward again, Shinjou-kun. But anyway, were you able to hand over the gift you brought?”

“Yes.” Shinjou smiled. “The director gave me so much last time, so I bought our school cafeteria’s famous Kinugasa Gelatin. It’s amazing. It has 0% fruit juice, but it apparently still tastes like fruit.”

“Heh heh heh. Shinjou-kun, your ignorant naïveté is lovely and right in my strike zone. But…it is disappointing that the item I prepared in the cafeteria did not catch your eye.”

“Yes, yes. …Wait. Is that why there was ‘Shinjou Konjac Gelatin’ in the cafeteria gift corner!?”

“All the fiber is gentle on the stomach.”

“You aren’t backing down, are you? Are you? You instantly decided not to back down and moved about three steps ahead, didn’t you?”

“Calm down, Shinjou-kun. I know it is a disappointment that I was only able to prepare the Se-chan flavor in time. But do not fear. I secretly drew myself on the underside, so we are inseparable. No matter what happens, you are still mine and mine alone.”

“But that means we have our backs to each other.”

“How careless of me! But the way our backs are pressed together is unbearably delicious!”

''He isn’t going fix this even if I warn him,'' realized Shinjou. ''In fact, I feel like he’s actually pulling me in.

So she instead flipped through the documents again.

Among the letters sent here, one had been brought from Top-Gear by Sayama’s grandfather. It of course said nothing about Top-Gear or concepts, but it mentioned that she had begun to manage a church of her own.

…''The funding was given by someone calling themselves “The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs”.

The letter said Shinjou Yukio did not know who that was but that she was thankful.

''Given the name, I wonder if it was that world’s version of Sayama-kun’s grandfather,'' speculated Shinjou. ''No, if it was, it would be Mommy-Long-Legs or Granny-Long-Legs.

“I wonder what happened.”

“What happened with what?”

Sayama casually urged her on, so she gave voice to her thoughts.

“I must have been on Noah with my mom, but why was that? My parents weren’t getting along.”

“And yet you were born. Is that a problem?”

She did not nod because even she was doubtful whether it was a problem or not.

“What if I was an unwanted child?”

She turned around and saw Sayama accepting her words with his usual expressionless look, so she spoke with the new letter in hand.

“My mom had people who were cheering her on, but she didn’t get along with my dad because she did not want to actively help them. She had allies, so why was I born between her and the man she was trying to keep her distance from?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. But…I do wonder why.”

The letter in her hand eloquently described a moment in the past. It was from the time in which her mother had had trouble with her father.

“I always refuse, but he keeps showing up. My hymns are gradually spreading through the local people, but he keeps his distance from all of them and watches me. And when I approach him, he only ever says he wants my help with his work.”

Shinjou checked to make sure Sayama was reading the letter and let her shoulders droop.

“To be blunt, your father may have been something of a stalker.”

“I was thinking about saying the same thing. …I bet the two of you would have gotten along well.”

“What are you talking about? Stalking is a crime.”

“Then what is it you’re always doing?”

“If you and I are not in the center of the world together, the world could very well fall out of balance and receive irreparable damage.”

Shinjou was speechless and she blushed a little.

“Y-you really like making up weird theories about the world, don’t you?”

“Checking on the answer does not change that answer, Shinjou-kun. Now…how about we set the world in motion just a little?”

Sayama stood up and forcefully tugged on her hand.

She hesitated for a moment.

“Wh-where are we going? I haven’t read all of the documents yet.”

“Not to worry. Right now, we must go to the place Shinjou Yukio, your mother, stood.”

He looked through the cafeteria’s glass door and outside.

There was a gate at the park’s exit, an asphalt road filled with the darkness of night beyond the gate, and…

“The answer must lie in the wreckage of the collapse.”

Sayama and Shinjou stepped out into the dark yard.

He was pulling Shinjou along, but she quickly moved up alongside him.

“We’re going to see the past?”

“Some kind of impetus is needed to see the past. Baku uses that impetus to show it to us. That is how we will check to see if our reasoning about the past is accurate.”

“You mean…”

Sayama nodded and continued for her.

“It is simple. We only need to find proof that your parents came to understand each other.”

He turned toward her and held out his empty hand.

“Can you give me the letters you have already read?”

“S-sure.”

Sayama belatedly realized their breath appeared white in the cold air as they exchanged words.

''The gas synthesized within Shinjou-kun is dissolving into the air,'' he realized.

“Shinjou-kun, may I stand downwind of you?”

“''Why''?”

He thought up an excuse. ''This happened when we were exchanging drinks at the train station before,'' he recalled. ''I went with the direct truth then and that was a failure.

''In that case, I merely need to be less direct,'' he decided while smiling to lower her guard.

“Because your white breath smells sweetly of mint.”

“That sounds like a perverted comment in some schoolboy’s journal!!”

She shoved the letters toward his face and he tilted his head.

…''Complaining about a compliment? She is so very shy.

''Well, modesty is a very Japanese virtue,'' he thought. ''And Kenjou, Japanese for modesty, sounds quite a lot like Shinjou.

“Sayama-kun, are you going to read them or not?”

“I am,” he replied to her glaring eyes while walking toward the park’s exit.

He looked down to the text and found it had been sent to his father.

“Something good and something bad happened today. First the good thing: I can build a bell tower thanks to someone’s donation. Apparently, the director who actually runs the church knows who donated the money, but she won’t tell me who it is. She apparently signed a contract with the donor and she can’t tell me until the church is complete. But on her suggestion, I had a sign set up at the gate. The director named it the Nisho Church. I’m guessing she took the first character from ‘The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs’ and added on the last character of my name.”

The next letter described some conflict with her other self.

“Something bad happened again today. I ran into this world’s version of me. He says the funding for spreading the Bible is going to be redirected toward developing terminals for Noah.”

''I see,'' thought Sayama.

Shinjou’s mother had defected to Top-Gear, but she had not promised her full cooperation.

She had worked to create a place for Low-Gear there, but before Shinjou’s birth, she had not helped with their concept creation and had been uncooperative.

She had likely wanted to stick to her role as advisor and allow Top-Gear to maintain its dignity.

At the same time, the higher ups of Top-Gear had not wanted her full cooperation. More than anything, they seemed to have wanted to show off that they had a defector from Low-Gear.

That may still have been a peaceful and relaxed time.

…''But as an actual researcher, Top-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio had realized the difficulty and danger of concept creation.

That had led to conflict between them.

And Sayama imagined Low-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio must have made a decision after that conflict.

…''She decided to take personal command of the concept creation and to give birth to Shinjou-kun.

''What led her to do that?'' he wondered while nodding again.

Meanwhile, Shinjou produced an odd footstep next to him and asked a sudden question.

“Sayama-kun, why…why are you trying to learn about my parents?”

“You have doubts about your parents, so is it wrong to want to eliminate those doubts?”

He did not turn toward her as he asked that and she paused for three seconds before responding.

“It is. After all, you won’t look at me.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded and slowed his pace a bit.

The ground was solid below his feet and he sensed her to his side.

He showed her his expression by letting her stand by his side rather than by turning back toward her.

Even as she spoke, he thought that was a cowardly way to show her his emotions.

“Why did my father choose my mother?” he asked.

“…”

“As a result, I was protected by my mother and survived. There is nothing wrong with the result.”

He found it was difficult to speak without allowing his white breath to become a sigh.

“But I would appreciate it if that decision was made for a happy reason. My father realized he should choose my mother, but he likely did so because your parents chose each other.”

He took a breath.

“I want your parents to have chosen each other for a happy reason. That way, my father would have celebrated the decision and noticed my mother’s presence. He would have realized she was the only one he had.”

“Sorry.”

“Thank me instead, Shinjou-kun.”

“I-I don’t think that would get the right meaning across.”

“But I would prefer to have your thanks than your apology. The meaning does not matter as far as that is concerned.”

Sayama picked up his pace again.

He could see the gate ahead.

He pulled Shinjou’s hand in close, pulled her body in close, and placed an arm around her shoulders.

She spoke quietly as he helped keep the cold away.

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you.”

As they exchanged thanks, they approached the gate and walked through.

The streetlights briefly cut off their view, so it felt like stepping out into another world.

But that other world had an asphalt ground and a cliff.

“You can see so much.”

The night scenery opened up down below.

The nearby lights were from houses and cars driving along the roads. The more distant lights were from the port and the boats on the sea.

Shikoku, through which they had travelled that afternoon, was visible as a band of light past the bridge over the Naruto Strait.

“Your mother must have seen this scenery in both Low-Gear and Top-Gear.”

Sayama and Shinjou stopped in front of the gate remaining before the cliff.

Sayama then breathed in and faced Shinjou.

“Now, time for some questions.”

“Eh? W-wait. Where did this come from?”

Shinjou frowned in confusion, but Sayama ignored it.

He raised three fingers in front of her.

“You must answer three questions. If you do not…”

“I-I have to strip?”

“…That is a great idea, Shinjou-kun!!”

“Oh, no! Why did I have to say that!? Forget I said anything!!”

She quickly tried to flee, but he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back.

“Now, for question one.”

“W-wait a second! I haven’t pressed my mental start button yet!”

He waited a little, so she slowly turned around and tilted her head worriedly.

“Y-you won’t really make me…right?”

He immediately nodded with a smile.

“Unfortunately, that is incorrect. The correct answer was ‘Artluman’s seventh special attack is the eye jab’, Shinjou-kun.”

“What kind of question has an answer like that!?”

He ignored her and held out his hand as if asking for her to give him something.

She forced a smile and jabbed a finger into his palm.

“What’s this hand for? Money?”

“Of course not. This is for something which has a value that cannot be bought, Shinjou-kun.”

She sighed and resignedly removed her tie.

“Fine, fine. Make do with this.”

As suggested, he made do. Namely, he wrapped it around his forehead.

“Now, time for question two, Shinjou-kun.”

“Y-you’re still doing this!?”

“Unfortunately, that is incorrect. The correct answer was ‘Kamen Vader 1 died by-…”

“O-oh! Oh! He held a nuclear bomb in his arms, bungee jumped off Tokyo Tower, and destroyed Tokyo!”

“I am really not sure what he was hoping to accomplish with that. …But how did 2 die?”

“Ah, that’s a cheap question!!”

“The answer was ‘he collided with 1 after performing a Super Headbutt to catch him from below’.”

As he spoke, Sayama removed another piece of clothing from Shinjou.

“Eh?”

After about seven seconds, Shinjou looked down.

“Um…”

She frantically held down the front and back of her skirt and crouched down. She was also blushing.

“S-Sayama-kun!? Wh-what was that for all of a sudden!?”

“These are not the panties you wore this morning, Shinjou-kun. …Strings? Were you expecting something to happen!?”

“No, I’ve changed clothes since this morning and I thought these would be easier to walk in. …More importantly, give them back!”

“Restrain that which has at long last found freedom? I could never do something so cruel! I must protect this.”

“Protect? Come to think of it, I’d noticed some of my underwear was vanishing from the closet.”

“Yes. To make sure they would not be stolen and to ensure I would have some on hand whenever you needed them, I placed them under my strict supervision.”

“So it was you!!”

“W-wait, Shinjou-kun! You misunderstand! I am pure!”

“Yes, it was a misunderstanding to ever think you were innocent. You’re obviously pure here. Pure guilty!”

''This makes for a nice daily life too,'' thought Sayama as he received a moderate strangling. But just as he began to give in to the asphyxiation, he restrained himself and quickly tapped Shinjou’s hand.

“C-calm down, Shinjou-kun. And at any rate, it is time for the third and final question.”

Shinjou stopped moving with her arms still reaching toward his neck.

She must have assumed saying anything would lead to further clothing being removed because she remained silent.

So Sayama exhaled and opened his mouth for the final question.

“Question 3: In the Kinugasa Library, we saw Miss Shinjou Yukio standing in the snow. The building next to her had a concert hall and bell tower. In other words, that was the completed version of her church. The gate likely had a sign calling it the Nisho Church. But…”

He looked over to where the cherry tree had to have been.

“She spun around in front of that completed building. So why did she do that? Why did she spin around and spread her arms as if to show off the completed building?”

He asked his question.

“Who was she showing it off to?”

Shinjou raised her eyebrows at Sayama’s question.

…''Come to think of it…

That dream of the past had only lasted a moment, so it had looked like the woman was dancing.

But that was unlikely to be the case. Below that snow-covered cherry tree, she had turned toward someone.

After looking into Osaka’s sky where Noah floated in the darkness, she had turned toward someone behind her with a look of joy over the completed church.

“Was that…my dad?”

“What do you think?”

She heard the toe of Sayama’s shoe tap hard against the ground.

“He must have been standing here, below the gate. Most likely without an umbrella.”

“Without an umbrella?”

“Your mother did not have one either. Don’t you think your mother had a childish side to her in that way?”

Shinjou thought about the mother she had no memory of.

“You’re right.”

When her mother had turned around, the look in her eyes had been confident that someone was there watching her.

Shinjou looked to her mother who had once turned around here in another world. She directly returned the woman’s gaze.

“I had a thought, too.”

“And what was that?”

“Well, whenever my mom was faced with something painful or unpleasant, she would hide it behind a weak smile,” she explained. “So why did she write about my dad in her letters? She said she had trouble with him and did not like him without trying to hide it.”

“That is a new fact I had not noticed. And on that snowy day…”

She knew what Sayama was saying, so she nodded and continued for him.

“She must have been announcing to my dad that the church was finished. She would have said something more sacred than Noah had been built. …And she would have said they might be able to create the Biblical mythology in that world.”

Shinjou spoke her thoughts while fully aware it was only a convenient hope.

“My mom may have been trying to put Top-Gear and Low-Gear on the same level by giving Top-Gear the Biblical mythology they lacked. Instead of creating concepts and waging war, she wanted to provide each world what they lacked as well as something they could believe in. …And so she pretended to defect.”

Sayama said nothing, so she breathed in.

She touched the metal gate and looked into the distance where she pictured her mother’s gaze in midair.

“My mom must have turned my dad away. She would have told him they would be just fine without Noah and she must have asked him to stop inviting her in and to instead listen to ''her'' invitation.”

She took a breath.

“That wasn’t mentioned in the letters, but I’m sure of it. She had to have given him an invitation, too. If not, he wouldn’t have continued coming here.”

She hesitated, but she decided to say it.

She gave the identity of the individual who her mother had wondered about, the one who had donated to have the church built.

“If not, he wouldn’t have secretly funded the construction of the church.”

She breathed out and told herself not to cry. She willed the tears back because she had not reached the conclusion yet.

But next to her, Sayama placed an arm around her shoulders and asked a question.

“Why do you think Top-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio was ‘The Pair’s Daddy-Long-Legs’?”

“It’s simple. The name Nisho Church partially came from that alias.” She gave a powerful nod at her own words. “And if you place the characters for ‘Pair’ on top of each other, they become the final character in Top-Gear Yukio’s name.”

Shinjou looked up toward that space in an alternate world where a gate with that name would have existed.

“When the church was finished, my mom would have heard the truth from the director. There’s no, no, no way the director would have been able to just watch on after seeing her turn my dad away.”

''I would have done the same,'' thought Shinjou as her voice rose to a shout.

“My mom chased after him when he silently left without looking back, didn’t she!?”

Her question roused Baku on Sayama’s head.

He gave her the answer to her question about the past.

A snowy slope was a poor place to run, but she ran.

It was night, but the snow filled the air with pale light and Low-Gear’s Shinjou Yukio ran down the slope in a lab coat.

Snow got in her shoes and chilled her feet as it melted.

But she still ran. The snow snatched at her feet, but she kept herself from slipping by continuing ever onward.

“Wait!”

Her white breath and her voice did not reach him.

The back of a lab coat walked away through the snow and did not turn around.

“Wait up!”

She breathed in, felt the cold air stabbing at the back of her throat, and stumbled through the snow.

Her slow pace frustrated her and she could tell she was not catching up.

She wondered if it was curiosity or interest driving her to reach him.

“Wait.”

The lab coat up head did not wait, so she pushed herself even faster.

“Ah!”

Her foot got caught in one of his footprints and she tripped.

Instead of falling to her knees, she fully collapsed to the left.

She was lucky the snow had accumulated as much as it had. The asphalt did not scrape at her skin and she actually scraped away the snow. She sat up to knock away the snow that had been pushed up onto her.

She sighed while sitting in the snow and she finally realized she was sweating.

…''Why?

Why was she so desperate? She did not know.

“Wait.”

With that word, tears spilled from her eyes for some reason.

She sobbed and her shoulders rose and fell.

“Wait…”

She muttered the word and brought her hands to her eyes like a child.

She saw a tall figure in a white lab coat standing before her.

He was there.

His sharp eyes looked directly at her and seemed to pierce right through her.

“…!!”

She blushed and quickly stood, but she slipped on the snow she had packed down and she almost fell backwards.

Swinging her arms was not enough to keep her balance, and…

“—————”

She did not fall.

She noticed he had grabbed her right hand. And with almost painful strength.

…''He saved me.

She wanted to say something and wondered if she should thank him.

But as soon as he let go, she used her left hand to slap him.

The high-pitched sound filled the air, the snow accumulated on his shoulders scattered away, and she shouted.

“What is the meaning of this!?”

She planted her feet on the ground and slapped him again. The sound of the second strike permeated the snow.

“Why…Why would you do something like that?”

He returned her gaze and relaxed his shoulders.

“What would ‘that’ be?”

She felt her body temperature rising at that question and she swung her left arm to point up the slope.

“You don’t know what you did!? You funded the construction of that church!”

She breathed in and formed words at the volume of a yell.

“Were you taking pity on me!? Or were you trying to bribe me!? Did someone order you to do it? What were you trying to do!? And…what were you thinking!?”

With her firm expression intact and unexpected tears in the corners of her eyes, she forced a laugh.

She wiped away the tears with her sleeve and took a shrill breath, but forced a smile with her eyebrows raised.

“That must have been amusing! You got to watch a silly woman go on and on about how proud of the church she was without realizing you had paid for it all! She had been manipulated by you the entire time, but she ignorantly acted like someone important!”

After that, she lowered the ends of her eyebrows, and asked the true question she had saved until after the unnecessary complaints.

“Why!? Why would you do that after we tried so much to distance ourselves from each other!?”

That shouted question produced a reaction in the man.

He looked up a bit toward the heavens.

At the top of the slope was a church and past that was Noah.

He stared in the distance beyond the snowy darkness.

“It wasn’t some impressive reason.”

“Just tell me!”

At her urging, he closed his eyes, breathed in, and spoke with an exasperated tone.

“I simply wanted you to succeed.”

“For me to!?”

His eyes were closed, so he did not see her expression.

He only lowered his head and continued.

“No matter what, I have to create concepts and prepare this world to fight. And eventually, Top-Gear will be unable to trust visitors from the other world like you. Once the enemy could arrive at any moment, the world will begin to think fortifying our defenses is the best way to spread peace.”

He did not stop there.

“But most likely, you are right, Shinjou Yukio. No matter what happens, you will still be right, Shinjou Yukio. You did not choose Top-Gear or Low-Gear. You made the right decision and chose to be a bridge between all Gears. You chose something I could not and you are undoubtedly right.”

He then said “but” and “so”.

“I wanted to see just how much your way of thinking could change the world. I wanted to see how much the true feelings of my other self could change the world.”

“…”

“Listen,” he said. “The donations I made to you might as well have been made to me. Your pride in the completed church gave me joy. I got to see just how much my other self could accomplish.”

He opened his eyes and looked to her.

For the first time, he narrowed his eyes with a small smile on his lips.

“That is why I funded the church, my other self. I chose to remain a man of this world, so you outdid me. From now on, I will be able to see the light of your church from Noah. I will also hear its bell. And that will be proof that there is at least one thing in this world that someone wished for. That will be one thing I truly managed to create for this world.”

With that, he turned around and bent his back a little.

“Farewell.”

The man in a lab coat took a step away into the falling snow.

As soon as he did, she did not hesitate.

“Wait!”

She wrapped her arms around him from behind.

She embraced the lab coat to stop him from continuing down the slope.

She knew she could not force him.

…''This man…

He had already restrained himself for the good of this world, so he would not give into force.

She would need a will that surpassed his if she was to stop him.

So she shouted loud enough for her voice to pass through his back.

“Please tell me!”

She breathed in.

“Someday, god will reside in this place! You built the very first place for god’s voice to be heard in this land! No lies are permitted there and anything you confess will be forgiven. So…so please tell me. What do you want from me!?”

And…

“You understand, don’t you? Someone on your level has to know the data I gave you was modified and you have to know why…why I won’t create concepts in this Gear!”

“I do know. You are another version of me, after all.”

He slowly chose his words.

“I understand why you are making it so we cannot create concepts.”

She nodded at his answer.

“You understand, but you can’t do what I’m doing?”

“The higher ups would never accept that Top-Gear is inferior to Low-Gear in any way. That is why I have chosen my path and left you to do things your way. I have now settled things with you, so you can continue doing things as you please. And…”

She felt him sigh.

“Are you going to waste everything I have given you?”

“We still don’t know if I can waste it.”

To erase his trembling sigh, she pressed her own breath into his back.

“Are you afraid of your own words? Are you afraid of the words that will ruin everything I have?”

Tears spilled out as she exhaled.

“Tell me. Please tell me, my other self. I have always chosen to give instead of receive, but if I am truly wanted in this world, then tell me what that means.”

He slowly took a breath. He breathed in instead of out.

The oxygen was cooled by the snow, so it pricked at his lungs as he spoke.

“I want you to help me settle everything for this world…no, for all worlds.”

She listened to his trembling voice.

These were the words of her other self.

“I truly have no interest in bringing an end to conflict or in what is right or wrong. I simply want all Gears to care for the world.”

After all…

“If every Gear is righteous, then no Gear has erred. The destruction was not brought on by people’s mistakes. I want to say that the destruction came about because they were right.”

So…

“Please help me, Shinjou Yukio. Help me make sure this world does not err in the righteousness it so desires. I want your knowledge, your skills, and your songs. That way the light and sound you have created and all else that was born of true righteousness will never vanish from the remaining world.”

“Is that…what you wanted?”

“Yes,” he said. “When I first learned about Low-Gear as a child, I thought about your presence there. And when I saw you playing the organ in that church, I wished for your happiness. I remember the very first words you spoke from the pulpit: Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

He asked a question.

“Answer me, my other self. Was I wrong? If so, I will apologize for funding what you have made.”

She did not answer, but she did let go of him and circled around in front of him.

In the snow, the two of them slowly moved in close.

“—————”

The bell rang. The brand-new bell rang.

The ringing permeated the snow as it carried into the distance.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_21|Chapter 21]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume13_Chapter_23|Chapter 23]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 18

2016-01-15T23:59:06Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 18: Riddling Moebius */

==Chapter 18: Riddling Moebius==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0513.png|thumb]]
''Important

''Person

A train raced along below the afternoon sun.

The two-car train was passing through a farming region. The rice had long since been harvested and the drying stands were covered only in straw.

The silver train was decorated with blue lines and it shook as it followed a river along the land.

It would occasionally enter a mountain, run through a rocky river bank, pass through a city, or cross the river.

At the moment, most of the passengers were students and they sat in the long seats on either side or the shorter seats that faced each other. Some of them closed their eyes and slept, some read a book, and some looked out the window.

A similar scene was found in the opposing seats at the back of the second car.

A boy in a suit had a boar-like animal on his head, a girl with long hair had a small stone on her head, and they were both working on something.

The boy was operating a large PDA and the girl was typing on a laptop.

As the scene outside changed from a mountain to a river, the girl suddenly looked up.

“Wow, the scenery just opened up. …We’ve come down a good ways. You could only see the mountains before.”

Her impressed voice led the boy in the opposite seat to look out the window as well. The window provided a view of the western sky.

“That would be due to Shikoku’s geography. Shikoku is a treacherous land. The Shikoku Mountains even contain Mt. Ishizuchi, western Japan’s greatest peak. We are taking the Tokushima Line which drops by about four hundred meters before reaching the ocean to the east.”

“I see.” Shinjou nodded, turned to Sayama, and looked at him and the PDA in his hand.

“Are you talking with Wanambi? I hope so, since we went to all the trouble of taking a seaside route through Shikoku because 8th-Gear’s reservation used to be there and the familiar air might make it easier to speak with him.”

Her laptop responded to her question.

A chat window opened.

“Can I talk?” “I can talk.” “This is Wanambi.” “This is Wanambi?” “This was Wanambi.”

Wanambi had previously figured out how to speak with her via wireless LAN, but Sayama’s PDA was the primary means of communication and they had learned quite a bit already.

Their first surprise had been about Wanambi’s very existence.

…''He only exists in terms of heat and data.

The Messengers of Wanambi were made up of stones and sand, but Wanambi was a thermal information life form that existed as data within them.

Wanambi was the common factor created by the shared minds of all of 8th-Gear’s residents, so to obtain a portion of him…

…''You need enough of the Messengers of Wanambi to allow him to exist.

This Concept Core had no real form. It naturally appeared in the shared minds of the 8th-Gear residents when several of them were gathered.

Wanambi was inside the PDA because several of those residents were contained inside it. The left grip of the PDA contained a clear portion much like a test tube and it contained a group of moving sand.

They acted as guides to transform the PDA into a container for their shared consciousness.

That was how Wanambi could manifest himself in the PDA.

Normally, Wanambi would have vanished after they moved a certain distance from the Messengers of Wanambi in Izumo UCAT, but the one on Shinjou’s head acted as an antenna to link the 8th-Gear residents in Izumo UCAT with the PDA.

…''It’s like they’re electronics or something…

But as they had spoken with Wanambi and the Messengers that were a part of him, they had realized 8th-Gear’s thoughts were not digital. Instead, they were based on the senses.

For example, they loved playing shiritori, but different Messengers would choose different words.

Wanambi would generally choose similar word patterns, but he would occasionally produce an unexpected word or mistakenly choose a word ending in “n”.

Their thoughts were quick, but unlike automatons, they actually made mistakes.

And that was why they produced heat.

The primary concept of 8th-Gear seemed to make heat into life.

Interestingly, when playing shiritori with Wanambi, repeatedly giving him hard letters to start words with caused Sayama’s PDA to gradually heat up.

“It is strange how he exist as heat itself.”

“Strange?” “Is it strange?” “It is strange.” “That is Wanambi.”

He would provide multiple reactions to a single word because his thoughts came from all of 8th-Gear.

A glance over at Sayama’s PDA showed an icon above the chat window.

It was a rainbow-colored double helix with a black border. That represented Wanambi’s presence and he claimed Shinjou Yukio had supplied the image.

Shinjou Kaname had taught him to speak and Yukio had given him a form.

And just earlier, Sayama had told him about the Leviathan Road.

Sayama had explained the threat facing the world, how they planned to handle that threat, what had happened thus far, and that they intended to gain Wanambi’s cooperation by responding to whatever demands he might have.

However, Wanambi had only been talking about the past and jumping from topic to topic.

That was continuing now as the train slowed in its approach to a station.

“Long ago.” “A mountain near here.” “Monster.” “Field.” “No.” “There was a reservation.” “Our reservation.”

Wanambi’s words were displayed in the window.

Shinjou typed a question back.

“Why did you leave your reservation and move to Izumo UCAT?”

“Research.”

More words followed that first one.

“Top-Gear.” “Top.” “To not be taken.” “Wanambi.” “This is Wanambi.” “Shinjou and Sayama.” “Go with.” “Went with.” “Came with.” “So.” “That is why.”

“You did it so you wouldn’t be taken by Top-Gear?”

Shinjou thought.

…''There was a nonaggression treaty between Top-Gear and Low-Gear, wasn’t there?

Nevertheless, Wanambi claimed to have gone with Shinjou and Sayama out of fear of being taken.

That generation’s Shinjou would have been Yukio.

“Did my mom take you with her? Or did you go on your own?”

She received an answer right away.

“On our own.” “Yes.” “Didn’t know.” “What will happen?” “The future.” “But.” “However.” “Wanted it.” “This is Wanambi.” “Called fearful.” “Called cowardly.” “Told it would be fine.” “But.” “Avoided the possibility.” “Didn’t want the possibility.” “Sayama and Shinjou.” “Went with.” “Low-Gear.”

A short pause followed.

“Once.” “Long ago.” “8th-Gear.” “When we left.” “When it was destroyed.” “Told it was okay to go.” “Given permission.” “Said could stay here.” “So.”

And…

“Shinjou and Sayama.” “Shinjou.” “Am here.” “Don’t want to go elsewhere.” “Coward.”

Shinjou once more saw something she had heard during 4th-Gear’s Leviathan Road.

And this time, the names Shinjou and Sayama were in the reverse order.

…''Yes.

She typed a response to Wanambi.

“You aren’t anywhere, and yet you were told to go to Low-Gear, weren’t you? So you happily went there. But in the reservation, your concern over Top-Gear grew, so when my mom went to Izumo UCAT, you relied on her and moved there.”

“Exactly.” “Yes.” “The other Gears.” “Tried to take us.” “Took us.” “But only a portion.” “For work.” “For calculations.” “But not just a portion.” “Wanambi is the whole.” “Didn’t tell.” “Didn’t inform.” “But.” “Shinjou said.” “Come.” “With Wanambi.”

Another pause.

“Remember.” “I remember.” “This is Wanambi.”

And…

“Taught.” “Learned.” “Game.” “Shiritori.” “Way to kill time.” “Shinjou.” “Kaname.” “Had a child.” “The same as that child.” “The same.” “Was the same.”

“Kaname-san taught you shiritori just like he had his child?”

“No longer cold.” “Could think.” “Could create.” “Heat.” “Warmth.” “Time.” “Created.” “Felt.” “Can feel.” “Learned.” “Learned to wait.” “Was no longer cold.” “Had heat.” “Waited.” “Waited.” “Waited.” “Waited for Shinjou.” “For Shinjou to come.” “Happy.” “Delighted.” “Joyful.”

Shinjou felt a similar joy at reading those words.

[[Image:OnC_v12_0521.jpg|thumb]]

Shinjou Kaname’s child would have been her grandfather. Around when that child had been born, Low-Gear had contacted Wanambi in 8th-Gear and interacted with him much like teaching language and games to a child.

The other Gears had sought Wanambi’s ability to perform calculations before that, but none of them would have taught him language, culture, games, or anything else unnecessary.

The 8th-Gear residents had lived in an empty space where they would enter a state of hibernation if they did nothing and cooled, so what happened if they were taught a “game” that allowed them to produce heat even when they had nothing to do?

And after waiting for someone to play with them, what would they think when that person showed up?

…''They’d be happy, wouldn’t they?

Wanambi had given that same answer with a few synonyms.

At that point, the train came to a stop.

The station’s name was related to studying, so students preparing for entrance exams would apparently buy the station’s tickets for good luck.

It was a long stop and a few of the doors closed to keep out the winter air.

Even so, the chilly air made it inside and Shinjou became more aware of the train’s heater.

Meanwhile, text scrolled along her laptop’s chat window.

“But.” “Didn’t come.” “Shinjou.” “Shiritori.” “Long.” “Long.” “Long time.” “Remembered.” “Words.” “Wait.” “Always.” “Waited.” “For Shinjou.” “And.”

“Then Sayama-kun’s grandfather came, didn’t he?”

“Yes.” “Correct.” “Confirm.” “Indeed.” “Was told.” “Was said.” “Shinjou.” “In Low-Gear.” “Not lost.” “Always there.” “So.”

Shinjou remembered seeing Sayama’s grandfather from behind as he sat alone in 4th-Gear’s past.

…''So he was everywhere and yet nowhere, was he?

The surname Shinjou had been passed on and the surname Sayama had been passed on, so even if those two from the past were gone…

…''A lot remains at UCAT, IAI, and the school.

“Do you have memories of Shinjou Kaname, too? Will those memories be around forever?”

“Yes.” “Yes.” “Yes.” Yes.” “Yes.”

Suddenly, Sayama spoke up.

“Shinjou-kun, what did you just ask him?”

“Eh?”

She looked forward and saw shimmering heat rising from Sayama’s PDA.

It had undergone intense heating and the heat was caused by her laptop’s chat window.

The word “yes” continued over and over again so quickly it did not seem to be scrolling at all.

Sayama peered down at it from above.

“Are these the responses of all the 8th-Gear residents making up Wanambi?”

The log file quickly grew into the gigabytes and their roll-call of a response ended only after eating up more than half the HDD.

Shinjou checked the meter showing the remaining space on the HDD.

“Wow. How many Mega Shocks in a gigabyte, anyway?”

“Heh heh heh. Nothing to worry about, Shinjou-kun. Although the next time you ask a similar question, the chat log between you and Wanambi could very well blow out the HDD.”

“I need to be careful,” she sighed while relaxing her shoulders.

She had learned one thing from that answer.

“You will follow the surname Shinjou, won’t you?”

“Together.” “Is here.” “Because here.” “Was here.” “So be patient.” “Was patient.”

“Patient?”

Wanambi answered her question.

“Yukio.” “Left.” “Went away.” “Left us behind.” “Life is nothing but farewell.”

“…”

Shinjou was speechless.

''Oh, that’s right,'' she belatedly remembered.

…''My mom went to Top-Gear.

“I wonder why.”

“Don’t know.” “Do not know.” “Didn’t know.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize.” “Must not.” “Sadagiri.” “Different.” “No apology.” “Wrong to apologize.”

And…

“Promise.”

The text continued from there.

“Promised.” “So.” So.” “So.”

Shinjou had definitely seen that word.

“Promise?”

She had previously come across that word in a similar context.

The plant creatures had mentioned it in 4th-Gear.

And so she worked her dumbfounded mind.

…''Did they have a similar promise?

After that thought, something deep in her heart warned her of danger.

Her experience was subconsciously telling her to be wary of this situation.

…''What is this anxiety?

What about this situation was dangerous?

Wanambi seemed to adore the surname Shinjou and she sensed no hostility.

But…

“Sayama-kun.”

Sayama looked up. Wanambi’s side of the chat was displayed on his PDA, so he understood the situation.

But he said nothing.

That increased her confidence in her sense of danger.

He was leaving this to her.

And she once more thought about how similar this was to the situation with 4th-Gear.

Back then, Sayama had carried out the Leviathan Road to fulfill the promise.

''So what about this time?'' she asked before realizing something.

…''I’m doing the Leviathan Road here.

She then thought about the word “promise”. When thinking in terms of the Leviathan Road, were these promises only between Wanambi and Shinjou or only between 4th and Sayama?

…''No.

She thought and remembered. She thought about the pasts she had seen over the course of the Leviathan Road, about the present, about everything, about everyone, about every world, and about every nation.

…''We promised to make them all equal. And…

“We said we would walk side by side.”

At the same time, the train’s doors closed.

After a single shake, the train trembled and the scenery out the window began to move.

As they picked up speed, Shinjou asked Wanambi a question.

“What promise did my mom make? What did she promise you when she left?”

“Talked.” “Told us.” “Lots.” “A lot.” “The past.” “Concept war.” “Concepts.” “What she saw.”

And…

“Taught us.” “Games.” “Gave us.” “New problems.” “For thinking.”

“New problems? Like a quiz?”

“Yes.” “Called them.” “Riddles.” “When standing.” “White.” “When sitting.” “Becomes red.” “What is it?”

Sayama frowned at the sudden question and he wiped sweat from his brow.

“I would expect no less of your mother, Shinjou-kun. What a lewd and adult quiz.”

“No, the answer is the sun.”

“Correct.” “Well done.” “Wonderful.” “Cheers.” “Hooray, burnt noodles!”

Shinjou listened to those words of praise and imagined her mother sitting in a chair and asking the stones riddles.

She had spent her time with children in the orphanage, so playing games like that with the stones may have been a nice diversion from her work.

“So was the promise a riddle?”

Shinjou asked what kind of promise it had been.

“Riddle.” “Quiz.” “Left with us.” “Job.” “Think about it.” “Think and wait.” “Then.” “Surely.” “Come to see us again.” “To tell us the answer.” “Shinjou.”

“You mean… ''If you continued thinking about the answer,'' the surname Shinjou would come to see you?”

“Leave with you.” “Want to leave with you.” “Riddle.” “Quiz.” “Already met again.” “Return.” “Riddle.” “Could not answer.” “Unanswerable.”

''Oh,'' thought Shinjou. ''Wanambi did what Shinjou Yukio told him.

He had been told the surname Shinjou would come to meet him if he thought about the answer. He had never found the answer, but…

…''He continued waiting.

By returning Shinjou’s unanswered riddle to a Shinjou, he was trying to return to how he was before.

He was trying to return to being by Shinjou’s side without having to wait.

So Shinjou asked a question while thinking this must be her Leviathan Road.

“If you give me that riddle and I give you the answer, will you stay with us?”

“Condition.” “Continue to wait.” “Waited.” “The riddle’s answer.” “Waiting.” “Canceled.” “Removed.” “New Shinjou.” “Go with.” “Stay with.” “Possible.” “Discard old condition.” “Not a problem.” “Will work.”

She had permission.

“Waited.” “Continued to wait.” “So.”

After a while, Wanambi continued.

“Erase it.” “The condition for leaving.” “Please erase it.” “Can’t find an answer.” “Give the answer.” So we no longer must wait.” “Answer the riddle.”

“Okay,” said Shinjou with a nod.

She knew it had to have been tough waiting and constantly thinking on that question for over a decade, but she also wondered if she could answer it herself.

…''I need to answer it!

With that thought, she spoke.

“Please give me that riddle.”

“Now, then,” said the text as if Wanambi had been waiting to say this. “Time for the next question.”

He gave a proper introduction.

“What does this Gear have.” “But.” This Gear does not have?”

Sayama saw Wanambi’s question on the PDA.

…''What does this Gear have yet not have?

Those words reminded him of the past they had seen in Izumo UCAT.

Specifically, something Shinjou Yukio had mentioned.

…''There is something valuable that Low-Gear has but the other Gears do not.

She had said she did not know what it was.

But a possibility presented itself.

…''Is that the same as this unknown thing that Low-Gear both has and does not have?

Had she searched for it and found it? And had she then gone to Top-Gear?

While he wondered about all that, he heard a hesitant voice. It came from Shinjou’s mouth ahead of him.

“Um…”

She frantically parted her bangs and briefly glanced his way.

However, her expression was not a troubled one.

He made sure to always check her expression, so he knew this was not caused by worry.

…''She is hesitating.

She was not struggling to find an answer to this question. She was hesitant to answer it.

He wondered what this meant and Shinjou typed on her laptop.

“Are you sure?” she added to the chat.

“?” “??” “???” “Sure?” “Are we sure?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” “Shiritori? “Sand.” “Dust.”

“Ah, no not that,” said Shinjou aloud.

“Shinjou-kun, you have to use the chat.”

“Oh, right.”

She blushed, faced the monitor, and resumed typing.

“Are you sure I only have to answer that riddle?”

“This.” “This is it.” “This.” Yukio.” “Gave it to us.” “Promised.” “Until solved.”

“Then you’ll come with us if I answer that riddle, right?”

Sayama looked up when he saw that text.

…''Could it be…?

Based on what she had said…

“Shinjou-kun, are you saying you know the answer?”

“Hm? Oh, sorry. No, I don’t. But…I think I’ve figured it out.”

He wondered what she meant by that and watched her blush and smile.

“This will be really embarrassing if I’m wrong, but I think it’s right. For one thing, it was my mom that asked. …Sayama-kun, do you remember a certain something that happened between us concerning the Leviathan Road?”

“Something that happened between us concerning the Leviathan Road?”

He thought back to the massive amount of information of the past.

The Kyushu hotel. Night swimming in the Seto Inland Sea on an isolated island. That evening in the dorm before May. The bathhouse during the spring.

He remembered a lot and he used his hands to recreate the respective curves in the air, but he soon realized something.

…''I am imagining a lewd Shinjou-kun!

''I must not disgrace her in my mind for my own convenience. Only do that when it is necessary!

But he could not think of a reason why it was necessary here, so he remembered her more serious times instead.

…''Yes, like when she studies at the window-side desk each night.

He recalled how she sat there in the shirt she wore instead of pajamas.

…''I can always glimpse the skin of her inner thigh below the shirt. After taking a bath, her skin has a way of drawing in my heart.

“Yes, just like a butterfly.”

“What is?”

“You do not understand?” he asked while standing up without thinking. “This means you are lewd even when you are being serious!! To describe it in a single word, you are lewdrious!!”

“No one would think that meant ‘serious’ too! And how in the world did memories of the Leviathan Road end up there? Honestly.”

She sighed and gestured for him to sit back down.

“Do you remember what Gram said?”

He sat down with the PDA in hand.

Once he settled down, he recited the words in his memory.

…''That was right after we had activated Gram, wasn’t it?

“Gram checked to see if this world was governed by Low-Gear and said he had slept for nineteen years. And he went on to say we would see the development of history that began with us and ends with ‘that girl’. He called it the history of how everything came to an end or the ending chronicle.”

“Yes, that’s what I remember too. Thanks. I’m glad I could check on that.”

“No need to thank me. You are the negotiator at the moment. But…is that it?”

He had partially realized what her answer was, so he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “What do you think about this idea? Nineteen years ago, my mom was researching the Concept Cores and she would speak with any of them she could, teaching them about Low-Gear. And Wanambi helped her and had also helped the other Gears during the Concept War, so he had a lot of knowledge and my mom would discuss her questions with him.”

“I see. It sounds plausible. …So what happened then?”

“My mom said Low-Gear has three things Top-Gear does not, right?”

He gave an expressionless nod and realized she had stepped up onto the same stage of thought as him.

“Continue,” he said and she gave him the words she wanted.

“One of those was the one thing that Low-Gear has but the other Gears did not, wasn’t it?”

She spoke slowly and chose her words carefully.

“Isn’t that a lot like this riddle? And…do you think my mom found the answer to that riddle on her own?”

“We cannot know that yet.”

“Answer me.”

He realized Shinjou had lowered her head at some point.

The way she hung her head and desired an answer reminded him of Wanambi.

Not receiving an answer must have felt a lot like being forsaken.

So he did not hesitate to speak his heart. Because without this answer, the person before him would not have been there.

“I think she did find it. I think your mother found that answer and the value of Low-Gear.”

“I wonder if she really did.”

Shinjou gave a small smile and hung her head further.

“I want to believe she did.”

She finished speaking and typed on the keyboard instead.

“The answer…”

She typed without hesitation and the words appeared on the display.

“The answer is me.”

Shinjou thought while typing her answer.

…''I don’t know.

She did not know if this answer was correct.

For one, when her mother had given this riddle, she had yet to go to Top-Gear. That meant Shinjou had yet to be born and her mother had yet to marry.

So this was not ''the'' answer, but it was ''an'' answer.

Shinjou typed and spoke aloud.

“Because of my body, I had always thought I was strange for a human of this Gear. But…if my body didn’t change, I thought I would be exactly the same as a human from this Gear.”

That had left her hanging between the two categories.

“I always thought I both was and was not a human of this Gear.”

And…

“I believe I will continue thinking that way.”

But…

“I want to stay with this Gear.”

Therefore…

“Am I not enough?”

Am I…

“Am I not enough of an answer for my mom’s riddle?”

Shinjou had asked a question of her own related to the question she had been asked.

After that, she waited ten seconds.

When nothing happened, she waited another thirty seconds, but still nothing happened.

“No reaction?”

Did that mean her answer did not work?

…''Is he cutting off all contact?

There was no reaction on the chat and she felt a chill in the bottom of her heart.

''Was I wrong?'' she wondered. ''Maybe I should have expected that to be wrong.

Was she not allowed as an answer since the riddle predated her?

Was Wanambi shocked that she would try to give that kind of answer?

She felt a beat in her throat and she reloaded the chat screen, but there was still no reaction.

…''Was I wrong?

She wondered what to do. This Leviathan Road had been left with her and she had taken Sayama’s place, but she had made the other side completely ignore her.

“What-…”

Just as she began asking what to do, she sensed some heat.

“Eh?”

The heat came from overhead. She reflexively reached out and grabbed the Messenger of Wanambi.

The Messenger was trembling a little.

…''It’s warm?

Wondering what that meant, she looked up.

She saw Sayama leaning back with his arms spread across the back of the seat.

“Congratulations, Shinjou-kun.”

“F-for what?”

She held the heated stone in both hands and tilted her head.

“I haven’t gotten the result yet, so it’s too soon to congratulate me.”

A moment later, a sound reached her.

It was a warning from the laptop. It came from the mail software and she read it aloud.

“The incoming data is too great, so it is has been left on the server.”

The amount of mail had gone beyond just gigabytes and it was being sent from…

“It is from my PDA, Shinjou-kun.”

She peered over and saw a few letters of the alphabet in the mail’s title field.

“Testament.”

Sayama then held out his PDA for her to see. Seemingly handwritten letters were dancing around the screen.

They looked like they were dancing with joy, but they also spelled out words.

“This is Wanambi.” “Starting now.” “From now on.” “Never have to wait.” “This is Wanambi once more.”

Shinjou responded to those words with thanks. Her thoughts had gotten through to Wanambi.

Meanwhile, the train entered an open field.

Past the field, a city could be seen below the setting sun. And beyond it…

“Look, Shinjou-kun. The ocean. That is the Seto Inland Sea.”

Beyond that inland sea was Sakai.

As he looked that way, Sayama opened his mouth to speak to her.

“There, I am sure we will see where your mother ended up in the past. …We will find the ultimate answer in relation to Top-Gear’s destruction.”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_17|Chapter 17]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_19|Chapter 19]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 17

2016-01-15T23:52:03Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 17: An Older Time */

==Chapter 17: An Older Time==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0481.png|thumb]]
''Now, you are here

''To test your resolve

''To test what you must know

Two sets of footsteps walked down a dark corridor.

However, this corridor was not surrounded by walls.

It was located between several partitions and machines.

The footsteps traveled down a path lit only by the small emergency lighting.

One set walked out ahead and the other remained a bit behind.

The leading set was created by a pair of sandals.

“What do you think of the sixth basement, Hiba-kun? …Of course, I only came here for the first time just a bit ago.”

The leading footsteps produced a male voice and Hiba stopped observing his surroundings and faced forward.

“Um, well… It feels like I’m somewhere important.”

Hiba, who wore a blue track suit and a bandanna, scratched his head.

“And I didn’t expect you to be showing me around, Kashima-san. To be honest, I thought I was going to be lectured for losing the Concept Core.”

“Ha ha ha. I can let Kazami-kun and the others handle that. I even have permission to film it. …It’ll probably be rated R15 for violence.”

“Why do you make it sound like that’s a foregone conclusion!?”

“Calm down,” said Kashima, asking the impossible. “Anyway, I’m not really the best person to show you around here. I’ve only walked back forth on this main corridor. This is the sixth basement’s uncompleted concept creation facility.”

Hiba nodded.

He had been told to come here only half an hour earlier, so it had been quite sudden.

Until then, he had been holed up in UCAT’s underground medical room.

The night before, he and Mikage had apparently been rescued directly after Tatsumi’s attack.

He could only say “apparently” because his medical treatment had been complete by the time he came to.

The doctor had said his entire body had been damaged almost evenly. He had apparently fared fairly well for being punched by a god of war and slammed into the ground.

Charms had been placed across his body and he had been given plenty of medicine.

After half a day, he only felt a lot of fatigue and most of his injuries were beginning to heal.

…''The real problem is…

Mikage.

She was sleeping on the intensive care bed in a private room at the back of the medical room.

Her injuries had primarily been the broken right arm and the chest wound.

The doctors had said her right arm would heal nicely if she rested for another night.

That made him wonder if they had let his injuries heal more roughly, but…

…''The chest wound.

The philosopher’s stone in Mikage’s chest was gone.

Specifically, it had fallen out onto the road. The blue stone had lost its light and split in two.

The wound itself was healing. It was apparently less severe than Hiba’s and her head had remained untouched, so she should have regained consciousness before him.

Despite that, she had yet to come to. The Doctor said her brainwaves resembled those of sleep but were highly uniform.

…''Like a sleeping machine.

He wondered how long she would sleep, but he shook his head because there was nothing he could do about it.

He shook off his unease and looked forward to Kashima’s back.

“Um, how far are we going?”

“Just a little further. So do you know where this is?”

Hiba tilted his head at Kashima’s question.

All he could see in the darkness and shadows was outdated-looking machinery, but that was only because of their old design.

He had never seen anything like any of them. Several consoles and layers upon layers of piping joined together to create something.

He noticed what he had previously thought was a wall was actually a number of tanks measuring several hundred meters tall. That was when he realized how massive this facility was.

He maintained the tilt of his head.

“Isn’t it a facility for creating concepts? That’s what you said.”

“Sayama-kun called after obtaining Wanambi and you heard what he said about why this facility is here and why it was never completed, didn’t you?”

“I suppose,” said Hiba noncommittally while thinking.

He had received a regular check-in from Sayama and according to the past that Sayama had seen below Izumo UCAT…

“Shinjou-san’s mother left behind altered data, right? She destroyed the facility below Izumo UCAT and left the people of Low-Gear with a…false theory?”

“Sayama-kun speculated that Shinjou Yukio could not stand to have the concepts used as weapons, so she altered the data on her theory before leaving for Top-Gear. That way, no one could use concept creation for war.”

Kashima took a breath and scratched his head.

“It is true that Shinjou Yukio seems to have gone to Top-Gear and tried to create a space for Low-Gear there. So…”

“Even if she was doing it for peace, it must have been a shock to the people she lied to.”

Hiba knew how Sayama and Shinjou lived at school. And he knew their parents had spent three years at that same school.

…''Being lied to by someone like that couldn’t have been easy.

''Then again, Izumo-san and Sayama-san sometimes lie to each other.

''I guess everyone’s different,'' he thought. But then he remembered the past scene of Shinjou Yukio he had seen in the Kinugasa Library. What he had seen there made it hard to believe she could lie, but he wondered if that was his weakness for girls showing through.

“She was really committed to her decision, wasn’t she?”

“Yes.” Kashima nodded deeply and stopped up ahead of Hiba. “Now, then.”

He scratched his head as Hiba caught up to him.

Once he did, Hiba saw what lay ahead of him.

“A metal bed.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“Um…”

Hiba thought. He thought deeply and added on an additional ten seconds before clapping his hands.

“Yes, it’s a new SM device, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha ha. Hiba-kun, you really are a member of Team Leviathan, aren’t you?”

“O-oh, god. You think I’m like them!”

Kashima smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. We will all accept you as you are…while keeping our distance.”

“I don’t think you’ve fixed the misunderstanding at all.”

“Calm down.” Kashima nodded and looked to the two meter metal bed ahead of them. “Listen. It was only for a short time, but this place was made to store the Concept Cores to help build the concept creation facility. And since everything has been left untouched since the Concept Cores were stored here…”

He lightly tapped the bed, producing a metallic ring.

“This bed is the same as the one built into Susaou’s bridge to seal 2nd-Gear’s Yamata. …This is where Mikage-kun originally slept.”

Hiba listened to Kashima.

“When Shinjou Yukio analyzed 3rd-Gear’s concepts, she must have used the concept reading coming from Mikage-kun as she slept here. Also…”

Also…

“Mikage-kun was being treated as a mere concept container, so Hiba Ryuuichi may have wanted to take her in and that may have been the condition used to get him to fight for UCAT. …That’s my guess anyway.”

“…”

Hiba was left speechless and Kashima turned toward him with a hand on the metal bed.

“If I’m right, why do you think your father wanted to take Mikage-kun in?”

“Are you saying you know why?”

“No.” Kashima hung his head and shook it. “But I feel like I might. I’m a father too, after all.”

“So it has to do with videos?”

Kashima gave Hiba a serious look and frowned.

“Hiba-kun, this is hardly the time to be discussing that. …Videos should be discussed in a calmer setting. Also, the lighting in here is awful and the sound is far too lively.”

“Yes, I guess you’re right. I really don’t care anymore, so can we get back on topic? Sorry.”

“You have a habit of not taking people seriously, don’t you!?”

Hiba nodded twice and tried to keep his cool.

“I’d love to see some of your videos some time.”

That put Kashima back in a good mood, so he nodded, tapped on the metal bed, and resumed speaking.

“I think your father was trying to protect Mikage-kun. He saw her as a person instead of a Concept Core.”

“But he died in that battle.”

“By that time, he already had you.”

Kashima turned toward Hiba.

“As a father, I feel like I understand what it means to have a child you can leave things to.”

With his eyebrows lying flat, he looked straight ahead and asked a question.

“Have you protected the person he left to you? …I would never leave Harumi with a boy who couldn’t protect her. So what about you? You couldn’t protect her, could you?”

“Well…” muttered Hiba before clenching his fists and breathing in.

He knew the answer. He had not been able to.

But just as his regret began dragging down his thoughts, Kashima said something more.

“Do you want the power to protect her?”

“Eh?”

Hiba frowned.

What did Kashima mean by that?

“W-will you be giving me some kind of weapon? Like an ultimate Cowling Sword called the Goddamn Slayer!?”

“No, no. Not even I am that overly creative. You need something else right now.”

Kashima smiled.

“You need to make ''yourself'' stronger.”

His light comment contained a very simple idea.

''Oh,'' thought Hiba as he realized his thoughts had been running in fruitless circles. He lowered his shoulders a little before speaking.

“If only I could do that…”

If he could do that, he would not have lost to Tatsumi.

…''How can I get as strong as her?

He and Mikage used Susamikado, a top-class god of war.

But as humans, they had been no match for Tatsumi.

And that led him to a certain fact.

…''I won’t be able to protect Mikage-san from anyone on Miki’s level.

He gulped at that conclusion and Kashima gave a deep nod in front of him.

“I understand your concerns. To put it on words…you were having dirty thoughts, weren’t you?”

“N-n-n-n-no!?”

“Uh, why was that a question?”

“W-well…”

Hiba briefly grew flustered. His thoughts had been perfectly serious, so why had he been unable to show any confidence in himself?

“I-it’s possible my adolescent skills have manifested themselves on a subconscious level. In other words, my mind is always in firing mode, so I can’t even trust myself!”

“I see.” Kashima pushed his glasses up his nose. “Can I ignore that?”

“Go right ahead.”

They both sighed, let their shoulders droop, and hung their heads.

After a while, Kashima looked back up.

“Anyway,” he said while scratching his head. “How about we begin training?”

“Training?” asked Hiba as he too looked up. “Is there a 36th Chamber of UCAT or the UCAT Wooden Men or something like that?”

“No, but a personality modification room is in the works. We received quite a few requests to make one for UCAT Director Ooshiro.”

“Oh? Just out of curiosity, what does it do to people?”

“They stop moving.”

“I think you’re modifying something more fundamental than their personality!”

“Calm down.” Kashima smiled bitterly. “At any rate, do you want to get stronger?”

“I…”

He nearly gave a noncommittal answer, but stuck a hand in his pocket instead.

He found two stones there.

They were the two broken pieces of Mikage’s evolution philosopher’s stone.

He wrapped his fingers around those solid shapes.

…''If I’m going to make sure this never happens again…

“Yes.”

He answered on reflex. And…

…''Ah.

Even he was surprised that he had answered so honestly.

''Will this really work out?'' part of him wondered. ''But…'' said another part of him.

The night before, he had only been able to collapse onto the road with Mikage in his arms. He recalled that fact and nodded in his heart.

He really did want to grow stronger.

Meanwhile, Kashima nodded twice and quoted Hiba’s answer.

“ ‘I…yes’, hm? That is a linguistically odd answer, Hiba-kun. Or were you too lost in thought to notice?”

“J-just tell me how already!!”

Hiba glared at Kashima, but he ignored it, stuck his hands in his pockets, and smiled bitterly.

Afterwards, he softened his expression and faced the boy.

“Sorry about that. It was just such a great response. It showed you have a real reason to want this strength.”

He inhaled and straightened up.

“After all, I once hurt someone important to me and tried to cast aside my power. And I continue to lie even now because of it.”

“Eh?”

Kashima did not directly answer that question.

“I want to know why Shinjou Yukio lied to everyone she cared about. And unlike me, you are the type of person who can get by without lying to Mikage-kun,” he said. “So I will give you a chance to fight someone powerful. …You must fight and struggle to grow stronger. That is the greatest way of achieving your goal.”

Hiba then heard a new voice.

It was doing an awful job of singing.

“Memories in the distance! Such a beautiful universe!”

The song continued unopposed.

“Once the beam flashes! The northern hemisphere is destroyed! Now, the apocalypse has arrived! But the bikers! And bike shops! All survived!!”

“Th-that’s Atsuta-san, isn’t it!?”

Hiba saw a man suddenly appear right in front of him.

He had sensed and seen no movement.

…''The Art of Walking.

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t look so shocked when you predicted it was me and everything.”

The man’s short blond hair and sharp eyes were looking down on him from within arm’s reach.

“Listen. The Great Atsuta here is going to give you some training.”

His right hand reached for his back and pulled out a Cowling Sword.

It was a bluish-white sword with a long, narrow, and straight blade.

“This is Prototype Kusanagi. …It’ll apparently be the greatest masterpiece yet, but it’s a little too unstable. I’m supposed to test it out.”

“Test it out? You mean on me?”

“Of course.”

Atsuta frowned and leaned forward to peer down at Hiba from above.

“Aren’t you happy? You can fight a nice battle here. Lose and you’ll die, though. …And you know what? If you do die, 2nd-Gear will call that our official punishment for Japanese UCAT’s lies and leave with Totsuka.”

That meant this battle with Atsuta would be a redo of the Leviathan Road with 2nd-Gear.

But Hiba gathered a bit of strength in his body and took a deep breath.

He looked to Kashima who crossed his arms and nodded.

…''Want to take a stab at it?

The man seemed to be asking him that and Hiba trembled at the thought.

This had to be what he wanted.

…''I can gain the strength I need to protect Mikage-san.

That thought settled it for him.

He suppressed the slight tremor that Atsuta’s powerful presence gave him and he asked a direct question.

“What happens if I win?”

Atsuta’s expression changed.

His eyebrows shot up and he bared his teeth in a smile.

He also tapped Kusanagi against his shoulder.

“You’ve got guts. I’ll have to cut them out of you. Listen up, little monkey. If you beat me, we’ll pay you back for the help the girl who slept here gave us in sealing Yamata long ago.”

Hiba listened to Atsuta.

“To pay you back, the development department will do everything it can to give you the strength necessary to wake up that sleeping beauty. That’ll be enough, won’t it?”

A curtain kept the setting sun out of a white hospital room. The fluorescent light on the ceiling worked to overpower the scarlet glow of the curtain and the people inside the room cast a shadow both to the east and straight down.

The shadows came from two humans and a creature.

One was a girl in a school uniform sitting on a stool by the window-side of the bed.

She was working on something using the black laptop on the side table.

Next to her, a woman sat up in the bed.

The woman had a creature resting on her stomach. It was a plant creature.

Its fur was made of vegetation and it spoke to the woman in the bed using its thoughts.

“Went to school. Heo has lots.”

“You went to Heo-san’s school, didn’t you? And she has a lot of friends, doesn’t she?”

Heo, the girl operating the laptop, blushed when she heard that.

She grew needlessly flustered and had difficulty coming up with an explanation.

“U-um, how should I put it? It was nothing I haven’t told you about, Yui.”

“Heo. Heat.”

Only then did she realize she was blushing despite having no reason to be embarrassed.

…''I’m not used to having people talk about me.

She talked about herself a lot. On the days she visited Yui, she would tell her all about school, but Yui would always listen and ask just the right questions. She asked how she had felt about things, what she had thought, or why she had done something. When she gave a good answer, Yui would praise her and rub her head. When she gave a sad answer, Yui would say something quietly and rub her head.

Yui’s questions allowed Heo to confirm that she really had been there, so she appreciated it. If she ever had children, she wanted to listen to them in the same way.

But that was all a self-report. Having someone else say what she had done felt kind of embarrassing.

“Sorry about that. …I’m not sure why I’m so embarrassed.”

“You’re embarrassed that someone else is talking about you?”

She nodded, thought for a bit, and turned to the plant creature.

“If they say something bad, I can always correct them. But when they say something good, I’m not sure how to correct them. It’s kind of scary and makes my heart pound.”

“So it’s a sort of verbal humiliation with you?”

“Verbal humiliation?” asked the creature.

It took three minutes to correct it and prevent that unnecessary knowledge from reaching 4th-Gear as a whole.

Afterwards, Heo sighed.

“What about you, Yui? If you hear something really, really good about me, but I say it isn’t true…would you feel disillusioned about me?”

As soon as she asked that, a weight reached her head. It was Yui’s hand and the fingers slipped into her hair.

“Heo-san, would you really be able to tell me it wasn’t true?”

Heo thought for a bit before answering.

“Yes. Unfortun- ah.”

She was interrupted by her surprise at having her head rubbed.

She narrowed her eyes and her shoulders trembled at the ticklish feeling on her scalp.

“Um, why? I just said I was a hopeless girl.”

“You know, Heo-san? I won’t be disillusioned to find you aren’t what people say you are. But I would be disillusioned to find you cared more about what people say you are than what you really are.”

“…”

The rubbing hand eventually slowed.

“I like honest people. I like people who don’t lie, can apologize when they do something wrong, and think doing the right thing is so natural they don’t feel the need to tell anyone about it.”

“R-really?”

Heo raised her head and Yui nodded.

“Is there anything you aren’t telling me?”

Heo panicked.

…''Something I haven’t told her!?

''There’s a lot of that. Will she forgive me if I tell her now? Well, this isn’t very much, but she probably wants to hear about it. Um, uh…

“L-last night, Harakawa said he didn’t want me!!”

“My, how awful. He deserves to be executed for that.”

“N-no, I already got back at him plenty! I ate all the snacks he had bought, I stayed up late, and I ate the cake meant for both of us!”

“Oh, my. You’re such a delinquent. How many calories in the cake?”

“W-well! It had a whole 666 calories! Kazami would have committed seppuku if it were her!”

“You really are a delinquent, Heo-san! You’re on an entirely different level. You’re a mega-delinquent!”

“Yes, I am a delinquent! And not just a mega one! I’m a giga-delinquent! S-so I even wore Harakawa’s shirt and slept in his futon last night!!”

“You wore my son’s shirt and slept in his futon!?”

“Y-yes, and on my back!! It was a reverse full-body prostration!”

“A face-up reverse!!”

The plant creature responded to this.

“Morning. Heo hugged futon. Called for Harakawa.”

“Y-yes, I did! I don’t remember it, but I was probably talking in my sleep!!”

“You pass!!!”

Yui rubbed her head hard enough to rock it back and forth.

…''Huh? That wasn’t just being honest.

“That was revealing everything…”

“Don’t come back to your senses now, Heo-san. You need to get even more worked up!”

The woman, girl, and creature clenched their fists, lowered down, and gathered their excitement.

After about half a minute, Yui straightened up and smiled.

“Things are so fun with you around, Heo-san. There’s plenty to look forward to now.”

“Why do I feel like I just made the mistake of a lifetime?”

“Heo T? Worried? Worried, Heo T?” asked the creature.

“Heo T?” cut in Yui.

“Heo called that at school.”

Heo was embarrassed and worried Yui would find it childish.

But the woman seemed to realize where the nickname came from. She looked to her uniform’s nametag before speaking.

“I see. I guess that would make me Yui N, but that doesn’t flow very well.”

Heo tilted her head when she heard the initial N.

“Why N?”

As soon as she asked, both the questioner and the questioned realized something.

For Yui, this was probably her first time letting that slip. For Heo…

…''That’s Harakawa’s late father’s name!

''I shouldn’t have asked that,'' she realized while panicking.

She quickly smiled and waved a hand back and forth.

“U-uh, then why not use the initial from Harakawa? You would be Yui H-…”

She had dug her own grave.<ref>In Japanese, H can mean perverted, lewd, sexual, etc.</ref>

Her hand and smile froze in place and Yui nodded.

The woman gave her a serious expression and picked up the plant creature so it would face her.

She then spoke to the creature.

“Heh heh heh. Heo-san just misspoke. If being Heo Thunderson makes her Heo T, being Harakawa Yui wouldn’t make me Yui H. And once she becomes Harakawa Heo, she’ll be H Heo.”

“H Heo?” asked the plant creature.

“Yes, H Dan and H Heo will make a wonderful H pair! Hooray, so much H.”

As she listened to the woman and creature’s conversation, a cold sweat poured from Heo’s smiling face.

…''This is a test! This is a test I have to endure after messing up twice!

But the test suddenly crumbled away when the plant asked a question.

“Harakawa important to Heo?”

However, it was not facing her. It asked Yui.

“What does Yui think? Harakawa important to Heo?”

…''Eh?

Heo saw Yui smile as the plant creature continued.

“Yui different from Heo. But understands Heo,” it said. “Heo and Yui similar to 4th.”

“Ah.”

That syllable escaped Heo because she felt like she had realized the purpose and meaning behind her renegotiation with 4th-Gear.

The plant creature had not come for a dispute or “just because”.

…''It wants to know if we truly are complete individuals.

Everything in 4th-Gear was either the manager Mukiti or the single entity that made up the entire world.

To them, a fellow member of your race was another part of you that shared your same mind.

…''They see someone trustworthy as a being that shares your mind.

4th-Gear’s creature did not understand, but it was definitely interested. It wanted to know if people could understand others in Low-Gear.

“Heo. Lots of friends.”

And…

“Friends worried. Asked Heo ‘are you okay?’ ”

The creature called for her.

“Heo T.”

“…”

“Used different name: Heo T. But still worried for Heo,” it said. “Strange. What is Heo? Heo and others not together, but the same. Why? Where is the real Heo?”

Heo decided to answer that question. She placed a hand on her chest and said what she wanted to say.

She faced the plant creature and Yui as she spoke clearly to make sure it understood her.

“I am right here. But…”

She smiled.

“I am not here.”

''Huh?'' she thought. ''I feel like I just said something strange.

But she also felt this was the truth.

Long ago, she had made a certain decision when faced with a battle.

She had thought of her mother and the others she had lost, she had thought of all they had left her with, someone important to her had hinted at it, and she had desired to fly.

There had been no need to think about people who were no longer with her, but she had anyway.

…''They aren’t here, but at the same time, they’re here with me.

And so she asked Yui a question.

“Who is ‘Heo’ to you?”

Yui lifted up the plant creature and turned it toward herself.

“My Heo is the same as the Heo you saw. She cares for my son, she trusts him even when he pushes her away, and she trusts in the fact that she has him.”

“Everyone has everyone!?” asked the creature.

“Yes,” replied Yui. She lowered it and rubbed its head. “We have you as well. So you too are both here and not here.”

“The same!”

The creature’s fur stood on end and it shook its body.

“Yui, the same. Heo, the same. Harakawa, the same. Heo! Heo T!”

Heo nodded at its innocent thoughts and it began swaying left and right.

“Heo, the same. Sayama, the same. Shinjou…”

“U-um, let’s not get carried away with who we’re saying I’m the same as!!”

The creature tilted its head and Yui smiled bitterly.

“You’re so cute, Heo-san. Take care of my son, okay?”

There, she suddenly changed the subject.

“How about I tell you about my husband? …It seems my friend won’t stop me today.”

The window was growing dark as the light of the setting sun faded.

The curtain fluttered and Heo realized the window had opened at some point.

Before, there had been an origami crane on the windowsill, but there was a piece of paper there now.

“Herrlich.”

Yui picked up the white paper with that word written on it.

“I hear that boy left for work and hasn’t come back. I bet he was lying about it being for work, but do you know why he doesn’t quit his part-time job at the base when he has his job at UCAT?”

“No…”

Heo shook her head and Yui turned a bitter smile toward the paper in her hand.

“Herrlich,” she muttered under her breath. “That boy is making sure he won’t forget the time when we lived on the base.”

Heo did not need to ask why. She knew Yui was about to tell her that. As for why she would tell her…

“Will you…make me the same as Harakawa?”

“Yes, let’s talk. I’m sure he is learning even more than he already knew right about now. So I will tell you as much as I can.”

Yui’s expression grew serious.

“And all to help you become H Heo!”

Harakawa could see clearly as soon as he came to.

That could be due to the light or how clear his mind was, but it was more due to the light this time.

A white fluorescent light shined down on him from a cement ceiling.

He could clearly see the color of that light.

“…”

He vaguely wondered why he was seeing it.

It was on the ceiling, so he had to be facing up. However, he felt no strain on his neck, so…

…''I’m lying down.

Once his body’s senses returned to him, he could tell what position he was in.

“Why am I lying down?” he muttered

“Oh, are you awake?”

He recognized that voice, so he sat up.

A moment later, he felt like his entire body was breaking or like some great impact had hit him.

“————”

“Your bones are all healed, but your muscles have yet to fully recover. I have extended them and set them in place, so forcing them to bend will feel like breaking your entire body.”

“…!!”

Harakawa ignored that and got up.

After letting out a breath and sitting up with his disheveled hair, he found he had been lying on a white bed.

He also saw someone in front of him.

“Your name was Roger, wasn’t it? …So this is in American UCAT?”

“Testament. You are in American UCAT’s medical room below Yokota.”

“I see.”

He tried to nod, but began sweating instead.

It was a sticky sweat. It felt like his movement had twisted his body and forced out the moisture.

His arms trembled from the shoulder down and he could not gather strength in his fingers. His back was stiff and he had to tense his abs to make sure he did not collapse backwards like a clockwork doll.

The joints of his back were all as stiff as if they were connected by a nail and he had to force his muscles to move properly if he wanted to bend so much as a finger.

But he managed to move regardless. He gathered strength in his gut, slowly but surely pulled back his right leg, and used his hand to move it down from the bed.

“You are very stubborn.”

He did not have it in him to listen. He only now realized there were white cloth partitions on either side of the bed.

He was wearing a smock and his clothes were in a basket to the side of the bed.

He put his jeans on first and then removed the smock. As he did, he noticed Roger’s gaze.

“Are you interested in guys’ bodies?”

“Not particularly. I was just surprised how well-toned you are.”

''Ridiculous,'' he thought.

Anyone who had decided to live on their own would remake themselves in the same way.

…''But…

He remembered coming across one person who had not really done that and that released his excess tension.

His relaxed mood must have acted as a sign because he was suddenly able to move his body better, even if a little awkwardly.

“It’s cold.”

His sweat had rapidly cooled, which meant no more sweat was leaving his body.

He decided to get dressed as quickly as possible, so he put on his leather jacket.

“I had assumed you wouldn’t be able to move for another half a day.”

“Are you basing that on the records of some little kid? If that’s how long it takes your soldiers to recover, it says a lot about American UCAT.”

“To be completely honest, I was basing it on myself.”

“I get the feeling I can actually talk with you.”

Harakawa adjusted his position on the bed and looked up at Roger.

“Will you show me the past?”

“I will not be showing it to you. The sand will.”

“You’re the one that makes the decision.”

He received only a bitter smile in response. Roger pulled a small bottle of sand from his sleeve and held it in both hands.

“This is a blend of sand from Top-Gear…and this base.”

“That sounds like a bitter blend.”

“Testament. I was right to bring a dummy to the meeting yesterday. I don’t have much of this left.”

“Left? I hear regularly imbibing the past isn’t good for you.”

“You are more than qualified to see this.”

Roger lowered his hands and placed his fingers on the bottle’s lid.

Roger did not ask if he was ready.

He did not even ask why.

It was like Harakawa had shown up just as he had wanted to show off a dream of the past.

It was like this had been predetermined.

It was like this had been promised.

And it was like he knew exactly why Harakawa was here.

“…”

Roger opened the bottle’s lid with his fingers.

After the small metallic sound, the man opened his mouth.

“The colonel said to give you what you wanted.”

“He probably went insane.”

“Testament. Then I too must be insane for obeying him.”

“You just do what you’re told. Only your commander needs to be crazy. Any more would be too much trouble for the rest of us.”

Roger laughed bitterly at that.

It was not a very pleasant laugh, so Harakawa frowned.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing much. I just happened to have a very similar exchange over ten years ago.”

“…”

Harakawa felt his hair stand a bit on end and he saw blue sand dance through the air.

“Now, the north wind still seeks the past even after it was broken, but what will it see there?”

He heard Roger’s voice.

“I hope that the north wind can blow once more.”

A moment later, Harakawa’s mind was taken away.

He dropped to the depths of a dream. He fell into an abyss that began in this base and ended ten years prior.

To learn what happened on that Osaka battlefield ten years ago, he fell.

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_16|Chapter 16]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_18|Chapter 18]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 16

2016-01-15T23:49:32Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 16: What One Has While Alone */

==Chapter 16: What One Has While Alone==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0445.png|thumb]]
''By realizing I had a thought

''I realized I could think

''That is why realization is said to be a virtue

The north wind blew down from the gray sky and filled a plaza.

The plaza was divided up by a moat and white walls.

A giant structure filled the center of the plaza.

The structure was a castle.

It was Osaka Castle.

Quite a few tourists looked up at the castle tower and its aqua-blue tiled roof.

Below the castle, Osaka Castle Park was split up by the waterways and walls. That winter afternoon, it was filled with tour groups and couples.

At the north end of Osaka Castle Park was a bridge crossing the northern moat and allowing passage to the city.

The cement bridge had wooden railings and it gave a view of Osaka Castle’s north side.

From the north, the castle was backlit by the sun, so it was covered in shadow.

However, one person did look up at the shaded castle.

A girl in a black suit stood at the center of the bridge, leaning against the railing.

She had a large white dog with her which was staring up at her as if waiting to be fed.

However, the girl was not looking at the dog. She frowned and glared at the letter in her hand.

It began with “To Mikoku” and it was the one that had been attached to a knife.

“I am about to go steal 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core. Team Leviathan’s negotiator and Shinjou plan to complete the Leviathan Road with 8th-Gear before visiting Sakai. Confront them and tell them what we intend to do once we have 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core. It is up to you to decide what exactly that will be. If anyone is to gather us together, it has to be you, the one positioned directly below Master Hajji. Give this careful thought.”

Mikoku summed up what the letter told her:

“I’m supposed to think about how we will use 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core to confront UCAT?”

She looked up into the gray yet bright sky.

“But why is she making me the leader?”

She had her doubts about that.

Tatsumi had her easily beaten in both combat skill and popularity.

She had been late to make her debut in the Army and she was still mostly viewed as everyone else’s junior.

Tatsumi said she had been chosen due to her position below Hajji, but she only had that position due to her young age at Top-Gear’s destruction and her need for someone to look after her.

It was still a mystery whether the others would accept her as leader.

…''I hope she is not simply shoving this onto me because she does not want to do it herself.

Regardless, Tatsumi had undoubtedly taken 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core.

She would not say she would if she could not. Some might call her manly, but Mikoku had tried that once and ended up knocked seven meters backwards by a wooden sword jab to the forehead.

Some might say she could not take a joke, but Mikoku had tried that once and ended up meeting a similar fate. Mikoku decided not to continue digging through her memories of Tatsumi.

“Now, then.”

She sat on the railing and set down the bag containing her extra clothes.

…''3rd-Gear’s Concept Core, huh?

That could strengthen Typhon, Alex, and the dolls, so it could be seen as the most useful of the Cores for Tatsumi and the others.

…''And she’s left it to me to decide how to use it against UCAT.

She could imagine the scene. The factory manager and the others would be maintaining Alex and such somewhere and Tatsumi would show them Keravnos.

“Finding space for this is a lot of work,” she would say. “I hope Mikoku does something about it soon.”

That was exactly the sort of selfish thing she would say.

“But how am I supposed to know what to do with it?”

Should they hold 3rd’s Core hostage and demand they hand over the other Cores?

Should they trade 3rd’s Core for Hajji and the prisoners?

Should they use 3rd’s Core as a weapon and battle UCAT once again?

…''Or…

Mikoku did not know what was best, what made the best use of their resources, or whether she should be the one deciding this.

There was also more she did not understand.

“Shiro.”

She spoke to the dog that had circled in front of her and he suddenly stood up as if to embrace her.

“Ha ha ha. You’ve been play-biting me so much lately, but have you finally accepted me?”

However, he was unexpectedly heavy, so she lost her balance and started to fall backwards.

“Nh.”

She took a position much like throwing Shiro backwards in a front suplex.

“…”

And they endured. She kept herself from falling backwards and Shiro stretched out so he would not lose his balance.

The two of them maintained their position for five seconds. Then ten. And thirty. Finally, a contest of force vectors was established.

“Nwah!!”

And she forcibly returned Shiro to the bridge like swinging down a hammer.

…''Did it!!

The two of them gasped for breath while holding each other in their arms on top of the bridge and its railing.

“Sh-Shiro, try not to play around too much.”

The dog’s entire body was tensed up and he was obviously not going to nod in agreement, but he seemed to have learned the danger of that situation.

He quickly tapped her shoulders with his front paws, so she let go of him and he panted while lying down on the ground like he was wilting.

Seeing that reminded Mikoku of Shino.

…''I wonder what she’s doing.

''That worry is probably a sign that I’m dependent on her,'' she thought, which only depressed her further.

She seemed to have entered a negative cycle and she knew perfectly well why.

“I have lost my confidence, haven’t I?” she asked Shiro.

The dog raised his lowered head.

He seemed worried about her which lightened her mood a little, so she spoke quietly.

“The thing is, I once thought I was the very strongest.”

She brought a hand to her chest.

“My mother made me this philosopher’s stone with a regeneration concept inside. I will never die with it, so I assumed I would always win in the end.”

She smiled bitterly.

“But you know what? That does not mean I will win in the end. It only means I will survive to the end. I cannot believe this,” she said quietly. “To win when necessary and give victory to someone, I need my skill. This philosopher’s stone is only a part of that skill, but not all of it.”

She reached for the cloth cover leaning up against the railing next to her.

And she looked up at Osaka Castle.

This castle had also existed in the Top-Gear Osaka she once lived in.

It would have been destroyed on that final night.

Everything in their city had been.

…''Including my parents.

Her parents had been concept and philosopher’s stone researchers and their concept research had led to her mother embedding this philosopher’s stone in Mikoku’s chest.

Despite knowing it was a misplaced complaint, she held a hand to her chest and thought to herself.

…''Would I have been stronger without this stone?

“I am awful.”

But it was true she had little aversion to the idea of death. She had to accept that fact in order to improve herself and there was no real reason to hate that stone which was a part of her, but she could not help but wonder “what if”.

What if she had been a boy? What if she had been taller? What if she had been stronger? What if Top-Gear had not been destroyed? What if she had been more-

“What would have happened?”

There was no one here to answer her questions.

“Because I am all alone now.”

She stepped down from the railing, sensed Shiro standing up at her feet, and looked to the false version of a destroyed castle.

She would travel to Sakai now.

Sayama and Shinjou would arrive there that night with 8th-Gear’s Concept Core with them. They would be there to learn about Shinjou’s past.

Tatsumi expected Mikoku to face them there and announce how they would be using 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core. Would she seek a rematch, the release of the prisoners, or something else?

…''I somehow doubt I will find a very good answer.

She turned her back on the castle.

She was glad she had stopped by here instead of traveling directly to Sakai. The names of stores and surnames on houses were different, but the place had still brought back a lot of sentimental memories.

“It is time to go, Shiro.”

As soon as she faced the streets of Kyobashiguchi, a sudden voice reached her.

—'''Metal is alive.

A moment later, she realized the enemy was here.

Gyes had detected Mikoku the night before.

She had noticed while taking Miyako and the Moirai back from Yokosuka via god of war.

A bullet train had been travelling east through the mountains below them, so Miyako had leaned out from the god of war’s shoulder.

“Go, Gyes! Pass it, pass it!”

Gyes had responded by passing the bullet train at extreme low altitude.

A child had noticed them out the window and Miyako had struck a triumphant pose, so Gyes had frantically sped up and away from the train.

…''It was then!

A familiar concept reading had come from somewhere within the train and that reading belonged to the killer of her fellow Hecatoncheire.

“Toda Mikoku!!”

Currently, she looked down from the top of Osaka Castle which was surrounded by a concept space.

The castle’s shadow fell on the bridge over the northern moat where Mikoku and a dog looked up at her.

Gyes leaped down regardless.

She used her gravitational control to quickly descend toward her target.

She was glad she had checked for the girl based on the bullet train’s schedule. She had been unable to resist saying she had business to take care of and leaving Izumo UCAT that morning. She regretted missing her chance to say hello to Sayama and Shinjou, but…

…''This is a personal battle!

Gyes accelerated and swung her arms backwards.

She did not bother drawing the swords from her suit.

She summoned her god of war straight away. And…

“Go, swords!!”

She drew the six giant swords from her fixed concept space.

She sent those half dozen blades forward to attack.

She swung her arms down as if to strike Mikoku.

And the swords flew.

Meanwhile, Mikoku took a defensive stance and breathed in slightly.

She was somewhat panicked. This had come suddenly and she knew she had let her guard down for anything to seem “sudden”.

However, she knew she was still fine.

She was inexperienced and she tended to use that as an excuse, but she knew she could still fight.

She knew she had to be stronger than before.

…''I can win!

With that thought, she gathered strength in her legs.

Her aim was simple.

…''I will counter her attack.

As Gyes dropped down from above, she swung down a giant attack.

So Mikoku would quickly fall back to dodge Gyes’s blades and then step forward for a counterattack.

Gyes’s actions had a flaw. She was assisting herself with her gravitational control, so she could not immediately shift into her next movement upon finishing this one.

Once Mikoku saw through the swords’ movement, she could duck through them and charge forward. That way, she would not need to jump over the holes smashed by the massive swords and she could always regenerate if one of the swords did graze her.

''I will be fine,'' she told herself. ''I can manage on my own.

With that thought, she opened the cloth wrapper in her hand.

She pulled out a Japanese sword treated with philosopher’s stone and tried to draw it.

[[Image:OnC_v12_0457.jpg|thumb]]

“…!?”

But for some reason, the sword did not move even with the usual flick of her thumb against the guard.

…''Eh?

It felt less like it was glued in place and more like this was a single object with no blade that was never meant to be drawn in the first place. More importantly, she had not expected this at all.

“————”

''I cannot fight like this,'' she thought, before immediately erasing that thought from her head.

Nothing but a question mark filled her mind. She tried flicking the guard with her thumb again, but it remained motionless.

“What is-…”

She tried to ask what was going on, but then she saw a small form sitting where she had not long before.

It was a childish form in a maid uniform. It was a girl with blonde hair.

She was looking over at Mikoku.

“Sorry, sorry. Are you panicking?”

She lowered the ends of her eyebrows in a bitter smile.

Only then did Mikoku realize she had no idea what to do.

She was trying to fight back against Gyes and that much was right, but she could not draw the sword she had pulled from its cloth wrapping.

…''I cannot do something I assumed was a given.

The path to victory she had painted in her mind had been closed off.

If she could draw the sword, she could bring that victory into reality, so her thumb was entirely focused on flicking up the sword’s guard.

However…

“Sorry. Gyes said some confusing stuff about this being a personal fight and not a duel. And well, I used to play with Aigaion a lot too, so…”

The girl raised her hands which seemed to be grabbing an invisible tube in midair.

“You won’t be able to draw that,” she said with a troubled smile.

Mikoku realized the six giant blades were descending from above.

The six swords split the concrete bridge.

“————!?”

And they sliced through what stood on the bridge as easily as slicing through empty space.

The first two severed Mikoku’s arms at the shoulder, sending them flying. The blades went on to slice through her feet, smash the concrete, and pierce through the bridge.

A solid sound filled the air, Mikoku’s left arm flew with the Japanese sword still in its grasp, and the next two blades dropped down.

Those two both split the front half of Mikoku’s body. They sliced through her lungs and every last rib and slid down the inside of her thighs while tearing a bit into the bone.

Soon thereafter, the final two slammed into her. And they used the back of the sword.

The rapidly falling blades provided blunt but powerful impacts that contained enough force to smash what remained of her.

She had already been sliced apart by the previous swords, so her left side, right side, and inside splattered everywhere. The inside was especially bad. The impacts on the left and right caused her insides to burst.

“————!!”

As the bridge began to collapse, Mikoku let out a scream mixed with the color red.

Her voice rang out.

The sounds of impact joined it.

But the bridge did not collapse. The girl sitting on the railing held out her palms.

“That was for Aigaion.”

She scooped her hands upwards to preserve the shattered bridge.

With her limbs scattered through the air and across the ground, Mikoku was released from the impact and began to fall.

“!”

But she was stopped.

Gyes had pinned her in midair with a sword through the abdomen.

“This…”

Gyes spread her arms wide to either side and nine swords spread out behind her.

“This ends here, Toda Mikoku!!”

With that shout, she used her gravitational control to stab Mikoku with the nine swords.

However, Mikoku was not yet dead. She was still conscious, still breathing, still pumping blood.

The blue light of a philosopher’s stone shined through her tattered clothing at her chest.

“I can still…”

Mikoku managed to speak. To keep her consciousness from fading in the intense pain, she spoke aloud to herself without understanding what exactly she was saying.

“I can still make it…on my own…”

She spat out some blood with those words and tried to hold on to her consciousness.

“Yes, you have that regeneration ability. You may regenerate quickly when healing a single body part, but it takes time to regenerate everything.”

Gyes saw several colors and objects gathering together atop the bridge that remained standing despite collapsing. They were reconnecting into a single body.

“You are defenseless during that time, but Aigaion did not know about your ability and assumed he had won. That led him to let down his guard and lose. But you know what? If he had known, Aigaion could have killed you.”

“Kill…ed…?” weakly asked Mikoku.

“Yes,” replied Gyes. “All one has to do is destroy that philosopher’s stone in your chest.”

Mikoku trembled at those words.

She tried to twist around and bend over.

“!!”

But something pierced through her head from front to back.

She had tried to bend over and hide her chest, but the impact caused her to bend backwards instead.

She felt like her thoughts were knocked out the back of her head and she saw a maid sitting on the ground beyond the bridge.

The maid had short hair, sharp eyes, and a needle in her right hand.

A rapidly fired needle was what had pierced through Mikoku’s head.

“…!”

Still bent backwards, several hundred needles stabbed into her, fixing her in midair.

At the same time, something moved from below the bridge and into the air.

The giant object turned out to be a blade.

The six belonging to Gyes’s god of war were stacked up on top of each other. Together, they formed a single extra-thick sword.

They sent a roar through the air as they dropped down as a massively heavy blade.

Their target was the philosopher’s stone in Mikoku’s chest.

At the same time, Gyes jumped on top of the six combined swords.

She added on her own weight to accelerate them further.

“Do not worry! I will make sure not to harm your face any further!!”

Mikoku saw it.

There was nothing she could do. She had lost most of her body, most of what even formed thoughts had been smashed, and she could only think vaguely about the scene before her eyes.

Her thoughts never actually stopped. They simply relaxed and allowed what was hidden in her heart to spill out.

…''Ah.

She saw a giant blade.

It dropped from the gray sky and a woman stood on it.

It had a machete-like tip and the corner was falling straight for her chest.

…''Sto-…

She tried to say “stop”, but her mouth would not move.

She could only think “stop” and “no” like a child while twisting her nonexistent body.

The sword arrived.

''It can’t be,'' she thought. ''Why?'' she asked.

''There is no avoiding it,'' she also thought.

…''No…

Her eyes saw the blade dropping from the gray sky and the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

Those buildings were the castle and the more distant city.

Long ago, she had lived in a similar place, her parents had been with her, and she had had plenty of friends.

She had always been taught they were in the right. When she had asked why, she had been given the following answer:

“Because we are trying to accept everyone.”

Her young self had accepted that answer.

However, her mother had embedded a certain stone in her young chest.

Afraid of the pain, she had resisted the idea, sobbed, and cried, but after being drawn in by sweets and dolls, she had undergone the surgery.

Three days later, the world had been destroyed.

All that had remained were the other members of the Army and this.

However, a lot of those others had been captured.

Shino had likely gone wherever it was she wanted to be.

Mikoku was now alone.

She was alone, she could do nothing, and a sword was about to smash her to pieces.

…''No.

She finally let out a voice. However, there was no strength behind it and she could not even reject anything that was happening.

“No!!”

Her shout was answered by the blade colliding with her chest and her body being torn apart.

But just before that, she remembered a great many things: her father’s face, her mother’s face, her friends, her life in Noah, the city she had lived in, the people she had lived with, herself as she had lived there, and…

…''Shino.

She cried out the name of that girl who was no longer by her side.

However, that cry was never heard.

The lungs that would produce it had been sliced apart.

The afternoon sunlight reached a certain location.

A materials storage area was filled with the colors of shadow.

An area of a forested mountain slope had been dug out, pillars driven down, and a metal roof added.

It was big enough for three large dump trucks to fit inside.

However, it was currently filled by something other than trucks, sheet metal, or other materials.

It contained a metal dragon and a white steel giant.

A girl sat on top of the crouching dragon that was colored red, white, and blue.

The girl stared forward at the white giant kneeling in one corner of the dark storage area.

No, she was actually looking at the men in work outfits surrounding the white giant.

“Manager, how is it? Can you get it moving?”

“Can’t you tell at a glance, Tatsumi? This isn’t a pendulum and there are no spares, so it isn’t moving right away.”

“I see,” said Tatsumi.

The mechanical dragon she sat on raised his head slightly.

“How was the enemy?”

“Nothing worth mentioning, Alex. But if I had to say something…troublingly weak. I need him to be strong.”

“Strength is quite a complicated topic.”

“Is it really? I don’t think it’s that-…”

She trailed off and looked down at a small object touching her shoe.

It was a bolt. It had likely been holding on one of Alex’s parts, but it had come free of its nut.

However, she placed the bolt in her pocket and waved down below.

“Manager, one of Alex’s bolts has-…”

“Typhon comes first,” replied the manager.

“But Alex is alive.”

“Stop it, Tatsumi,” cut in Alex. “You make it sound like I will fall apart from losing a single bolt.”

“But,” she said with a frown.

“This much is nothing to worry about. …I am in far better shape than when the negative concepts washed over me and left me on the verge of death. I have to thank your mother for replacing my dying body with this.”

“Your body was remade, but it’s still falling apart. This bolt may look perfectly normal on the outside, but it will fall right back off even if we put it back on.”

“That is the dreadful side of negative concepts. My actual body has grown almost entirely negative. It is merely being held at bay with new bolts added onto the outside.”

After a pause, Alex continued.

“But without this body, I never would have met you and I would have died. So the only thing I can do is continue on such that I leave no regrets.”

“…”

“That is nothing to fall silent over, Tatsumi. And more importantly…”

He turned his head toward the corner of the storage area.

Beyond the white giant named Typhon was a pile-driver wrapped in blue chains.

“You brought it back with you, but aren’t you going to attach it to Typhon?”

“Mikoku will decide that.”

“I wonder if she is doing well.”

“She isn’t at all. I tailed her and did a little dance behind her, but she didn’t react. I even played ding dong dash at her hotel room and she didn’t notice a thing. …She’s doing much worse than before the battle,” quietly said Tatsumi. “With Master Hajji and Shino gone, she must think she’s alone. She thinks she has no allies and the only people left are enemies or people who force troubles onto her.”

A voice answered her from below. It was the manager who was brightly lit by his welding.

“Tatsumi, how about you quit teasing her and teach her a thing or two?”

“She’s far past the point where she can be taught. Even when it comes to fighting, she can think for herself now.”

“Then why is she feeling so down?”

“She has no confidence,” declared Tatsumi as if she had seen it for herself. “She had always relied on others to provide her a reason for her actions. She had always entrusted herself with Shino, Master Hajji, or even us, so she has no idea what to do now that she’s alone and without a set goal.”

Tatsumi brought a hand to her neck and smiled bitterly.

She then crossed her arms, looked down at Alex’s face, and narrowed her eyes.

“But what do you think someone’s true strength is?”

“That would be their own strength as opposed to something given to them by anything external,” answered Alex.

“Then is a fighter only demonstrating their true strength if they fight barehanded?”

That question silenced Alex.

Tatsumi laughed, crossed her legs, and swept a hand through her hair.

“Mikoku still has allies.”

“Hm? Even though she has no one nearby?”

“You have allies, too. So do I and so does everyone else. That’s how I see it anyway. Everyone has at least someone who will unconditionally side with them no matter what,” said Tatsumi. “And Mikoku’s case is more powerful than anyone else’s. She has simply forgotten about it and lost her nerve. And remember one thing, Alex.”

She nodded.

“One’s true strength is what is hidden inside them and forgotten.”

The impact sounded like music to Gyes’s ears.

She loved these sounds of slicing and destruction.

It felt like the commotion of the old festivals of the gods condensed into a single instant.

The sound carried into the distance and rose into the sky. The wind created by the moving blades and shattering impacts felt wonderful and the splattering chunks acted as proof of her fun.

And if it led to victory, that was all the better.

Mikoku’s philosopher’s stone had undoubtedly been smashed.

Gyes had felt the hit and she had confirmed it while compressing her combat speed several thousand times.

Mikoku was dead.

…''No, I killed her.

Was this her first time to lay a hand on someone from Top-Gear?

Or had she unknowingly done so in the past?

She did not know, so she chose not to think about it and lowered her shoulders.

She began to switch her body parts from combat mobility mode to normal mode.

“————”

But she suddenly realized that something was not right.

She was standing on the stack of six swords, but her vision was located too high.

…''That means…

Something was supporting the swords from below.

She tried to peer down to see what, but something stopped her.

“Sister Gyes!!”

She heard Moira 3rd’s voice and she saw Mikoku’s body in the spot the six blades had struck.

Mikoku wore the tatters of her clothing and almost seemed to have grown up from the ground.

“She’s regenerating!?”

…''Impossible!

The philosopher’s stone had been broken. She had felt it happen through the blades. And yet…

“…!?”

Gyes saw Mikoku’s philosopher’s stone supporting the tip of the fallen blades.

The pinky-sized blue stone had definitely broken.

“That blue light…”

Despite being broken, it was emitting light.

…''It’s repairing itself!?

Gyes understood what Mikoku’s philosopher’s stone was doing.

“It regenerates both her body and itself!?”

That stone could regenerate itself.

It was likely a product of combining concepts from 3rd and 10th.

It was a philosopher’s stone that could only have been made in Top-Gear.

''This is dangerous,'' warned Gyes’s artificial mind.

However, she did not know where exactly the danger lay.

She saw no problem in the fact that this philosopher’s stone could regenerate itself.

Mikoku’s regeneration took time, so she only had to use that time to smash the stone again and destroy the girl’s body.

If it came to it, she could drop the girl in a vat of powerful acid or a pool of lava. The stone and her body’s regeneration speed would be unable to keep up.

And to do any of that…

…''I need to smash it now to prepare for my next move!

Mikoku’s regeneration was nearly finished. Her body stood as if pulled up by the philosopher’s stone. Some gravitational control may have been at work because Gyes’s swords were lifted up as well.

Mikoku was not conscious, so Gyes decided this was her chance. But just as she began to take action, she realized something.

Her movements were slow.

…''I’m still using my combat speed.

She had yet to switch back to normal speed.

That meant everything she was seeing was in the realm of her combat speed.

In that case…

…''I’ve compressed my speed several thousand times, but her regeneration speed appears unchanged.

That thought led to a single answer.

Mikoku’s regeneration speed was rising. That was the only explanation.

''Why?'' she asked.

“Does that philosopher’s stone include an evolution concept!?”

She shouted the answer she had reached as a resident of 3rd.

At the same time, Mikoku slowly opened her eyes with blue light filling her chest.

Mikoku’s vision cleared.

The first thing she saw was a torrent of blue light.

…''Eh?

The blue stone embedded in her chest pulsated with a piercing light that traveled in every direction.

A forceful wind whipped around her.

As if delighted by that wind, the blue light surged outwards.

…''Why?

Why was she alive?

There was only one possible answer: a power hidden inside her philosopher’s stone.

…''Is this what my parents were researching?

They had been researching immortality.

However, they had not succeeded. After all, every Gear contained a concept of destruction.

Evolution and destruction were two sides of the same coin, so to hold the possibility of one was to hold the possibility of the other.

Thus absolute immortality was impossible. Instead, they had created a false immortality. Rather than healing the root cause that was destruction, this philosopher’s stone filled in the gaps and healed the symptoms of that destruction.

However, there was one thing Mikoku had not known.

…''This stone regenerates me, but even if it is destroyed, it regenerates itself and further evolves?

She had not known about this ability.

She soon felt strength fill her entire body.

This strength had not been there before. She could begin moving immediately after her resurrection.

Her body was working perfectly and this gave Mikoku a certain thought for the first time.

…''I can fight?

With this regeneration speed, she could instantly heal any wound and keep moving.

However…

“…!”

At the center of the blue light and swirling wind, she sensed something. A pain was squeezing at her entire body.

Rather than the usual intense pain, she felt like her entire body was creaking.

This hastened regeneration was adversely affecting her body.

That was when she realized why this ability had not shown itself before.

…''I was young, so my parents gave me a slower regeneration to protect me from this pain.

So why had it sped up now, giving her this pain?

Why had the stone been created with this change in mind?

“…”

She realized she had something after all.

She had been left with something. She had thought she had nothing, but she did have something.

She had this strength.

She had an incomplete immortality concept.

It was not perfect, but it could only have been built up this far inside Top-Gear.

And it was the one thing her parents had left for her.

Even if the world was destroyed, this power would rescue her from destruction.

…''And yet I cried and protested so much back when they were going to give me the surgery.

She wondered what her parents had thought of her.

She distinctly remembered the sensation of being hugged and told it was going to be okay.

Inside Noah, her parents had sung to her and comforted her along with everyone else and the automaton that managed Noah.

Everything came back to her, both the memories and her body.

As her body quickly regenerated, her mind grew clear.

She could see the sky beyond her pain.

She breathed out into that false winter sky.

The breath formed words.

“Thank you.”

She was not addressing anyone in particular.

As if answering her, light and wind blew across her and filled her with strength.

That rising strength was like a voice telling her to wake in the morning.

No matter how isolated she was, the strength of this self-created world would never leave her.

''I was spoiled,'' she thought inside the blowing wind. ''I was so used to being spoiled that I forgot what it was to think.

After thinking about herself, she thought about the person she cared for most.

…''Shino.

Her thoughts continued.

…''Even without you, I will not die.

So…

“Will you…?”

She took a breath, lowered the ends of her eyebrows, and sounded on the verge of tears.

“Will you be just fine without me?”

Even as she asked that question, she began to move.

A bitter calm filled her heart.

Soon, a thought in her heart rose to the surface.

It was the task Tatsumi had forced onto her. She was to be Top-Gear’s leader and…

…''What will I do with 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core?

As soon as she felt she had an answer, she found the solution to it all.

She would settle things between Top-Gear and Low-Gear once and for all. One could call it a last resort.

She decided this was an answer only she could have reached.

A moment later, a large sword arrived within striking range overhead.

Mikoku clenched her regenerated left fist.

She quickly drew the Japanese sword it held.

She was determined to make good use of 3rd’s Concept Core.

She took action as the first step toward the last resort she had just come up with.

She intercepted the falling sword with her own philosopher’s stone treated blade.

Her sword broke and the cutting concept contained within lost control.

“———!!”

The surrounding space was smashed to pieces and the automaton’s gravitational control could no longer support the bridge.

“…!!”

Immediately afterwards, the bridge exploded, sending out a destructive and noisy wind.

Gyes closed her eyes against the wind.

Mikoku had finished regenerating, so she would have easily been able to see through Gyes’s attack.

She could have readily made a counterattack and no one would have blamed her had she taken Gyes’s life.

However…

“…?”

Gyes was still alive.

''Why?'' she wondered as she opened her eyes. She looked on the broken bridge and through its gaping holes, but Mikoku was not there.

''Why?'' she wondered. ''Why didn’t she attack me?

She looked around from atop the stacked swords and below the dry sunlight peeking through the clouds, but both Mikoku and the dog really were nowhere to be found. She only saw Moira 3rd turning her head back and forth to look around.

Moira 3rd also seemed confused by Mikoku’s absence.

“What happened?”

She tilted her head.

“That was her chance, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was.”

“I know, right? You would’ve been pathetically cut down while filled with false triumph.”

“Don’t call me pathetic!!”

She got the girl in a headlock and poked at her, but Moira 2nd silently walked up to stop her.

Gyes sighed.

…''What does this mean? She had the perfect chance to finish me off.

A broken sword was stabbed into the bridge at her feet.

Mikoku had forcibly scratched at the bridge to leave behind a message.

It said…

“Sorry?”

''Why?'' asked Gyes. ''Why did she apologize and run off when she had effectively won?

Unfortunately, Mikoku was not around to answer.

She had left that single word and disappeared.

Only the blowing wind remained.

Only the chilly winter wind.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_15|Chapter 15]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_17|Chapter 17]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 14

2016-01-15T23:47:50Z

68.109.63.229: /* Chapter 14: A Place of Old Memories */

==Chapter 14: A Place of Old Memories==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0391.png|thumb]]
''That is a path to the past

''Nothing can return

''All one can do is think

The underground portion of Japanese UCAT was filled with hectic activity.

It was mostly work to restore the facility and the people moving from floor to floor shook the entire building.

But one area near the center of the underground space remained still: the development department.

The large room was filled with people wearing lab coats who would leave when called over an internal line, but would return after about an hour.

A single voice spoke for all of them. It came from the woman sitting at a large desk by the back wall.

“It isn’t easy being considerate.”

The elderly woman’s nametag said Tsukuyomi Shizuru and she crossed her arms behind her head.

…''Just because the other Gears are taking action against UCAT or holing up doesn’t mean you have to as well.

But none of them were doing a thing and had been like this the entire time. They were all giving it a lot of thought, going to work, and doing their jobs, but they were not actively making an appearance anywhere.

“I suppose none of us knows quite what to do. We can’t exactly become their enemy again at this point, but the other Gears keep going for it and it makes us think maybe we should too.”

Tsukuyomi spoke her thoughts to the entire relaxed development department.

She felt they had finally returned to their old attitude, but at the same time, something had begun to move today.

That movement came from beyond a partition near the center of the room, it was centered on two men, and it was noisy.

They were still whispering, but their voices were picking up speed.

“Like I was saying, Kashima, you just have to make a sword! One that can cut all sorts of stuff!”

“What are you talking about, Atsuta? I was only released from the hospital three days ago. Think about this. I was hospitalized for a month and a half with all those broken ribs.”

“What? You mean you’re still in rehabilitation?”

“Yes, I am. This is an important period of rehabilitation. I have to recover from the lack of Natsu-san nursing me in the hospital room. Although, she has been rewarding me with way more videos than usual ever since I got out of the hospital.”

“This isn’t about your damn videos!!”

Tsukuyomi saw short hair dyed blond rise above the partition as someone stood up.

“With you gone, I haven’t had a weapon, so I’ve been stuck sitting here silently!!”

Hearing that, every single person in lab coat or work outfit stood up from the partitions.

“That last part is a complete lie!!”

Sitting in his chair, Kashima nodded at the entire development department’s unified opinion.

He looked to Atsuta who was resting his elbows on the partition entrance.

“Besides, Atsuta. Ooh, look. Here’s a video of Harumi. What do you even need to cut?”

“For starters, I could cut out the center of what you just said.”

“What are you talking about? Oh, she’s so cute. If you’re going to cut out anything, it would be the start and end.”

He watched his laptop’s screen and it began to play a video of Natsu in a hospital room.

…''Hm, I can’t let anyone else see this one. This is the one that goes from her casual silence to a kiss. She closes her eyes and stops just before kissing the monitor.

“Hey. Hey, Kashima. Earth to Kashima. Why are you kissing your monitor, you ape?”

“Ha ha ha. I feel sorry for you, Atsuta. You can’t understand or even see this sense of closeness.”

As he spoke, Kashima transferred more and more of the data he had filmed at home onto the laptop.

He set a few of the important files so they would only play with his fingerprint and then he faced forward.

“What’s that weird look for, Atsuta? You’re ruining your usual weird looks.”

“Are you looking for a fight?”

“I am. It’s going to be quite a fight to convert all 672 GB of data before tomorrow.”

“Wait, just a damn second. Have you never heard of trimming the fat?”

“Of course I have. …This is what was left after I carefully selected only the essentials!!”

“That’s not how it works and don’t look so proud! …Listen!”

Atsuta grabbed at the air and set it down.

“Put those videos down here! Here!”

Kashima did as he was told and set his laptop on the floor.

“Yes, the floor is cold and will keep it from overheating. …That was a great idea, Atsuta! Looks like you know what it takes to work with videos. I’m glad I can finally call you a video buddy.”

Kashima showed off his teeth in a smile, looked up at Atsuta, and held out his hand for a handshake.

“Welcome aboard, my video buddy!”

“Y-y-y-y-you bastard! …Who are you calling your video buddy!? Well!?”

Atsuta knocked Kashima’s hand aside, but Kashima gave a serious expression and slowly pointed at the center of Atsuta’s forehead.

“Wasn’t it obvious? I was talking about you. Why are the veins on your temple bulging out like that? Besides, I just sent Natsu-san an email saying you started making videos thanks to Harumi.”

The cellphone at his waist vibrated, so he pulled it out.

“Here’s her response: ‘Then from now on, today will be Atsuta-san’s video anniversary, won’t it?’ ”

“See? You have my wife’s approval. Isn’t that great?”

He held out the phone, but Atsuta snatched it and bit into it. After three crunching chews, the phone had completely lost its shape and he suddenly bent backwards.

“Kwaaah! The electronics are shocking my teeth!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. It may be rich in minerals, but eating something that hard is bad for your jaw. And pay me back for that. 5,800 yen for the phone itself and 1,780,000,000 for the lost emails from my wife.”

Hearing that, Atsuta bared his teeth and clicked his tongue.

“Do you have any intention of holding a serious conversation!?”

“Hold on. What about you? If you were listening to me, then tell me what I was saying.”

“Videos, videos, videos, Harumi, Natsu.”

“D-don’t you dare refer to Natsu-san without an honorific!!”

“And you don’t have anything to say about the rest of that!?”

The two of them grabbed at each other’s collars, heating up the room, but a voice suddenly reached them from beyond the partition.

“You two certainly are full of energy.”

They looked over and saw Tsukuyomi standing with her arms crossed.

“Heh.”

Atsuta turned his head her way and then turned back to Kashima.

“Hey, Kashima. I think some kind of monster’s come to scold us. What’s that one called? The Development Hag?”

“I’m pretty sure she only wants to scold you. I’ve been doing work even while I was out.”

“Is that so?” asked Tsukuyomi. “Then what were you developing?”

Kashima used his laptop to display a text project report with illustrations that he had made in the hospital.

“A passionate supplement for the father who wants to film his child’s growth both day and night! I call it the Royal Vita-Video!”

“Then make it yourself and take it yourself.”

“D-don’t be ridiculous! It would only work if Natsu-san made it for me!!”

“Then how are you going to mass produce it!?” shouted everyone else in the room.

“With that, how about we start talking seriously.”

Kashima pushed his glasses up his nose and sat down. For some reason, he heard sighs from his surroundings.

He looked up at Atsuta and Tsukuyomi who were glaring at him.

“Basically, things are a lot like they were before, aren’t they?”

“Yes, I suppose you could say that.”

“Then this is simple. The other Gears live in the reservations and let UCAT manage their Concept Cores.”

Kashima did not hesitate to speak as he crossed his legs in front of Atsuta who frowned.

“But 2nd-Gear is different. Yamata is sealed inside Totsuka which is under our control. And we are members of UCAT, so we can fully manage Yamata and we have no problem living in Low-Gear.”

He made sure everyone else in the room could hear him.

“We won’t gain anything from complaining and we lose our control of Yamata if we leave UCAT.”

“But Low-Gear bears the crime of destroying Top-Gear.”

“Unfortunately, the development department was primarily run by 2nd-Gear even during the blank period. Just as Director Tsukuyomi’s husband was in the department then, many other 2nd-Gear residents worked with UCAT.”

He let out a breath.

“We can’t escape it. If we look into the blank period, I’m sure we’ll find just how much our families were involved with UCAT at the time. So the only thing we can do now is…”

“Oh! Slice up as much stuff as we can!?”

“It must be nice to have such a one-track mind.”

Kashima smiled bitterly, crossed his arms, shook his chair, and turned to Tsukuyomi.

“We need to prepare ourselves. There is no denying the past, so to face that past and clear the way for the future, we can only fight in our own way. …I suggest we help Team Leviathan.”

He called Atsuta’s name.

The man frowned and turned toward him from the partition entrance.

“What got you so serious all of a sudden? Are you picking a fight with me?”

“Why are you even here? …But more importantly, you keep saying you want a weapon, right? In that case, I have a bit of interesting job for you.”

“A job?”

Atsuta frowned again and Kashima reached a hand to his desk.

He had a month and a half of mail piled up there, but the very top of the pile was a single fax paper and a white origami crane.

“I don’t know what this crane is, but this fax arrived from a convenience store at the base of the mountain this morning.”

He toyed with the crane in his right hand as he grabbed the fax paper with his left and held it up in front of Atsuta. It then passed effortlessly between them as if slipping through the air.

“That fax is a request for some help, but I’m still not fully recovered. But if you’re willing to go help for me…”

Atsuta snatched the paper from the air as if trying to cut it.

At the same time, Kashima opened the wings of the origami crane with both hands.

“I’m willing to lend you the prototype to a new Cowling Sword I was working on.”

The underground corridor was white.

It was about four meters wide and two meters tall.

The walls were white, the ceiling was white, and the fluorescent lights on the ceiling were fully lit.

Four pairs of footsteps walked below that light and the lead set came from a woman in a lab coat.

“I’d love to conserve energy since we’re keeping everyone out, but Moira 1st and the others insisted.”

The lab coat’s nametag said Tsukuyomi Miyako and it reflected the light.

A blonde woman in a maid uniform walked next to Miyako and she turned toward the two walking behind them.

“Sorry, Master Sayama, Lady Shinjou. We would love to conserve energy because it costs a lot to keep the lights on inside the concept space, but it is necessary for security reasons.”

Sayama, who wore a suit, gave the maid a small nod.

“Not to worry, Moira 1st-kun. We will pay the power bill.”

“Hold on,” cut in Miyako. “Don’t go easy on us. I’ll take out an extended loan to pay.”

“View it as a sign of our friendship with 3rd,” insisted Sayama. “After all, if you were to trip in the dark, it could erase the proof of the connection between Low-Gear and 3rd.”

Moira 1st nodded.

“He is exactly right, Lady Miyako. Think of it as a way to celebrate.”

“Sure, sure.”

Miyako crossed her arms behind her head as she walked and Shinjou elbowed Sayama in the side.

“Sayama-kun, I really don’t think you should be so direct about that.”

“My apologies.”

Shinjou heard Moira 1st and Miyako laugh bitterly at that.

''Am I worrying too much?'' she wondered while bringing a hand to her own stomach.

…''People can be so different. I wonder what I’ll be like when it happens to me.

With that thought, she relaxed her shoulders and noticed writing on the wall.

“BF2? So this is the second basement?”

“You went to the first basement last time, right? That’s where the reference room is.”

Before, she had been looking for her family. This time, they were here for the Leviathan Road and to search for her mother’s past in hopes of learning about Top-Gear’s destruction.

…''It feels like we’re heading further into the dungeon after levelling up.

Suddenly, Moira 1st pulled a flag from below her apron. It said “Team Leviathan Tour Guide” on it.

“Now, to your right, you will see Izumo UCAT’s famous relaxing sand dune room.”

Shinjou looked over and saw a large sand pit with holes for sand bathing.

Sand and stones were left in the corridor like strange works of art, providing common decorations for the second basement’s corridors.

The automatons waiting in the sand pit pointed toward a hole and crouched down as if urging her to climb in, but she pretended not to see it.

“Isn’t Tottori the place known for its sand dunes?”

“Shinjou-kun, Shinjou-kun. This is much like how Tokyo conquered a portion of Urayasu, Chiba.”

“I see.”

She nodded and turned to Moira 1st who had stopped with a smile frozen on her face.

After a long silence, the automaton cleared her throat.

“Now, to your left, you will see Izumo UCAT’s miniature aquarium which is fun for the whole family.”

Shinjou looked over and saw a large fish tank with an underwater corridor.

She recognized some of the fish swimming in it and she gasped in awe at seeing them so up close.

“Look, Sayama-kun! Sea bream! There are sea bream in there! I’d heard their colors look really faded, but it’s true!”

As soon as she pointed at a large one, a net suddenly scooped it up.

“You like the looks of that one, do you?” asked a smiling Moira 1st. “We can serve it to you for lunch, so how about it?”

“Sayama-kun! Sayama-kun! I think I was just traumatized in another new way!”

“Ha ha ha. Shinjou-kun, eating them is the same as holding a memorial service. Has this been an educational experience?”

They continued walking and suddenly noticed someone standing at the other end of the corridor.

It was a well-built elderly man. He wore a white suit, his arms were both held upwards, and a smile covered his face.

However, Moira 1st and Miyako ignored him and passed him by just like all the sand and stone decorations.

Shinjou picked up on that and walked past the man along with Sayama.

After about three steps, she heard him turn around and snap his fingers.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Are you sure you should be doing that or whatever? Well!?”

His voice caused Miyako to pick up her pace and lean forward a little.

“Sayama, Shinjou, don’t worry about him. Don’t answer him either. He’ll possess you if you do.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Miyako-kun! Isn’t that a mean thing to say? C’mon! C’mon!”

The man walked up to their left, continued to say “c’mon”, struck a pose for some reason, and removed his coat.

“Can you say my name!?”

A straight kick from Miyako slammed into his torso and he crashed into the fish tank to the left.

After a deep sound of impact, the glass cracked and Miyako turned around faster than the fish could flee.

“Okay, that bought us some time. Let’s get going.”

“A-are you sure? I’m pretty sure that’s Izumo’s-…”

“Don’t say it. He’ll possess you. Just a bit further.”

“Just a bit further?” asked Shinjou before hearing a voice from behind them.

“Wait, wait, wait. Miyako-kun! How can you do this when my old friends’ living products aka children are here?”

Miyako pulled a remote from her pocket and hit the switch.

The floor behind them audibly opened and the man in a white suit gave a gentle scream as he vanished into the abyss.

Shinjou turned around in surprise, but she could only hear a loud crash as the man landed.

“Why was there a trapdoor there?”

“I don’t know the specifics, but it seems this place is designed a lot like Japanese UCAT’s underground area.”

“Oh, I get it now.”

Shinjou gained a baseless sense of understanding and Miyako pointed at their destination.

It was a large door leading to the third basement.

“The secret area is up ahead, but it seems that old guy from before is opening it up for you. He’s also letting us from 3rd live in some empty space. And…”

Miyako slowed her pace and gently walked forward. She looked back over her shoulder while approaching the door.

“What do you think is back here?”

“I would assume Concept Core storage facilities, starting with 8th-Gear’s,” answered Sayama. “After all, Gram and the Cores for 6th and 10th were originally stored here.”

“Then why do you think those storage facilities were created here?”

Miyako arrived at the door as she asked.

That door led downstairs. She tapped on it with the back of her hand and gave Shinjou and Sayama a sharp look.

Her next words were more than enough to make Shinjou tremble.

“Shinjou Yukio.”

When she saw Shinjou gasp and look up, Miyako nodded.

“I said this place is a lot like Japanese UCAT, remember? Put that together with what I just told you. …Now, what do you think is back here?”

Shinjou worked to bring her breathing under control.

She removed the backpack containing her binder, documents, and laptop and she held it in front of herself.

She thought about what that question meant, nodded once, and made up her mind.

“Is there a concept creation facility in there?”

Miyako’s expression did not change, but that was the only possible answer based on what she had said.

“There is, isn’t there? My mom moved to Izumo UCAT, but that was because this is where her mother and my grandmother lived and she must have tried to build a concept creation facility based on what she saw inside Babel.”

When Miyako nodded, something seemed to move in approval.

But oddly enough, Shinjou could not see anything around her that could have moved.

“?”

Still, she sensed what she could only describe as the lingering scent of movement.

And so she looked both ways and asked about it.

“What is this? Some kind of weird presence reacted to what I said, Miyako-san.”

Yet there was no one around.

However, she did hear a voice. Miyako bent over with laughter by the door.

“Ha ha. They’re delighted that you got the answer right.”

“Th-they’re delighted? What are?”

“Well.” Miyako straightened up and shrugged with a bitter smile. “There’s no way I would know all that on my own. I had a little guidance.”

“You mean…it wasn’t that weird guy in white?”

Miyako shook her head and cleared her throat.

“Listen. Someone like that isn’t going to know the answer. It was-…”

Suddenly, Sayama moved to Shinjou’s right.

She took a confused step back just as he picked something up from the floor.

It was…

“A stone!?”

At some point, several of the stones decorating the corridor had arrived at her feet.

And they had moved there on their own.

Sayama frowned, held up the one he had picked up in both hands, and carefully observed it.

“Did you come out to greet us?”

A sound on the floor answered him. A stone rolled along the white plastic to line up and sand crawled along with it and spread out.

“It’s forming letters.”

“Hi.”

The stone and sand created a quick greeting and then spelled out its name.

“Messenger” “of” “Vanambi.”

“Eh?”

“Sorry.” “Messed up.” “Don’t worry about it.”

The writing was spelled out with greater and greater speed, but the previous letters were erased and replaced.

“Messenger” “of” “Wanambi.”

The sand and stone spelled out its name in only three seconds, and it created new words between the two visitors and Miyako who smiled bitterly.

“Well done” “coming here.”

A moment later, two things happened.

First, Miyako opened the door behind her and revealed the facility inside it.

And second…

…''Baku.

From Sayama’s head, Baku raised his front legs while looking at the Messenger of Wanambi.

It almost looked like he desired the past they held.

And then Shinjou saw that past.

Sayama saw a dark, large, and yet cramped space.

…''Is this the concept creation facility we saw beyond that door?

The dimly-lit area was covered in equipment from the floor to the ceiling. The floor contained white consoles, controls, and machinery measuring around a dozen meters each that were packaged in white and were clearly meant to process or manage something. There was also piping connecting it all together and…

…''What is this that I thought were the walls?

Tanks and containers measuring several meters tall were visible through the darkness.

It was all packed in tightly, creating a jungle of machinery with gangways allowing passage.

But below the cables that hung like ivy, space was cleared down the center for a main pathway.

A single console was located at the center of that pathway and at the very center of the space.

It was about four meters long and resembled the console to a built-in kitchen.

Some more controls had been added later, along with a bookshelf and…

“A cupboard? You sure like to be comfortable, Shinjou Yukio.”

Sayama recognized the voice that filled the room. It came from the individual sitting in the chair in front of the console.

…''Doctor Chao.

She rested her elbow on the console, rested her head on her hand, and stared past the console with her eyes only half open.

“I went out of my way to bring the four brothers here so you could gather some data on the Concept Core, so make sure you put it to use.”

Sayama heard someone respond. It was a female voice located beyond the console.

“Thank you very much, Doctor Chao. If I can investigate 7th too, I’ll be only a step away.”

The voice resembled one he knew quite well.

…''Shinjou-kun?

With that question, he saw who Chao was looking at. It was a woman in a lab coat with steam rising from the cup in her hand.

“Do you want some coffee?”

Her long black hair swayed below the faint lighting.

He could see a hint of Shinjou in the slight bend to her eyes and the smile on her lips.

This was Shinjou Yukio.

Baku had previously shown her to them for just a moment in the back of the Kinugasa Library.

Shinjou had said nothing, but it was clear to Sayama that she was her mother.

…''I wonder how Shinjou-kun feels about seeing this.

[[Image:OnC_v12_0411.jpg|thumb]]

''I need to support her once this is over,'' he decided. He contemplated whether to place his arm around her shoulder or her waist, but he was interrupted by Chao’s voice after she took the coffee cup.

“Don’t you have any cigarettes?”

“This is an important research facility, you know?”

“Asagi smokes like crazy, though.”

Yukio smiled and weakly tilted her head.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Yume-san will get after him for it.”

“Yume’s in the Kinugasa Library to gather all of the documents you or Asagi ask for. Lately, Itaru’s been working as her assistant when he has the free time.”

“That must be nice.”

Yukio smiled bitterly and rested her upper body on the console. She also tapped on her cup with both hands.

“Ahh… I wish I could live surrounded by books too. Something like Diana’s room.”

“You don’t understand the meaning of work, do you?”

Despite her words, Chao was smiling bitterly.

As she smiled, a slight sound came from down on the floor.

Sayama looked down and saw a fist-sized stone and sand at Yukio’s feet. Chao’s smile vanished.

“Is that…?”

“That is the Messenger of Wanambi, 8th-Gear’s Concept Core. …It came out when I opened the container.”

“I hear it chose for itself to leave the reservation. …Does it like you?”

“Yes, it seems they’re silicon lifeforms, or something like it. My grandfather taught them the language, so they can speak. …Oh, but you were there, so I guess you already knew that.”

“Yeah,” muttered Chao and the Messenger of Wanambi spoke to her.

“Remember,” “but” “still” “young” “Strange” “Some kind of trickery!”

“Are you picking a fight with me?”

The stone rolled behind Yukio to hide.

Yukio smiled and pulled a book from the console’s bookshelf.

It was a university physics textbook.

“Here’s your dinner. Your dinner of knowledge.”

“Understood” “Yukio” “Good” “person” “Good person”

The stone and sand carried the textbook on top of itself and vanished into the darkness.

Yukio waved goodbye.

“It’s amazing. Every single grain of what looks like sand is a lifeform with the ability to think. And by sharing their mind, they gain tremendous calculation power. They’re a lifeform that takes the shared memories of 3rd’s automatons and further focuses it on calculations.”

“While 4th’s plant creatures are a single lifeform, these ones are truly split into individuals yet share their mind to create a single lifeform, hm? It’s a lot like the relationship between a whole human body and each individual cell, isn’t it? According to Sayama, 8th-Gear had a single planet, but the planet itself was a single lifeform.”

“Yes,” replied Yukio. “They have a collective mind and the ability to duplicate and manage information held by Wanambi, the Concept Core. To 8th-Gear, Wanambi is probably a lot like a human’s DNA.”

Yukio took a breath, looked into the darkness it had vanished into, and placed her hands on her knees.

“I wonder how Old Sayama brought them back from that empty world they floated in. …Well, I doubt it was anything good.”

She shrugged.

“Apparently, the people of other Gears used to borrow 8th-Gear’s calculation power. 3rd and 5th had their help in designing the mechanical dragons and gods of war. That’s all they could do because they can’t fight and they’re very nice. Also…they remember doing that. Do you know what that means?”

“Those stones remember every Gear they went to, right?”

“Yes.” Yukio crossed her legs and faced Chao again. “They could grow accustomed to any Gear and were useful there. Once they realized that, the clever things decided to not take an active role in the Concept War. Their Concept Core, Wanambi, is their collective mind itself and it decided it could survive even if it meant moving to a new world.”

“So they’re a nomadic race, are they? …That’s a lot different from those that clung to their own world to the bitter end.”

“They had a lot of freedom in that way, so it’s still a mystery how Old Sayama managed to guide them here.”

Sayama then heard Yukio say they were helping her.

The feeling that gave him was not bad and a sudden thought came to him.

…''This is so easygoing.

He had expected the blank period to have a darker atmosphere what with the impending fight against Top-Gear.

Regardless, this was still a place meant to prepare for that fight.

''I suppose everyone is different,'' he concluded and looked forward again.

Chao brought her cup to her mouth, sipped, and took a breath before speaking.

“You know, that idiot Kaoru managed to contact the other side with a group from 10th.”

Yukio collapsed onto the console again.

“Ahh,” she began. After a pause, she continued. “Top-Gear is asking for either me or Asagi-kun to visit, aren’t they?”

“They technically only asked for your generation as a group, but it’s obvious what they want. They’re afraid of you since you entered Babel and built this facility.”

“Getting into Babel was a complete coincidence for both Asagi-kun and me. We still don’t know why we can get in. …So I’m not sure what to say when that’s why they’re interested.”

Her words brought Sayama’s mind to the surface.

…''They don’t know why they can get in?

That was written in the report, but the inclusion of “still” suggested they had done so more than once.

She had likely done so to complete her concept creation theory and build this facility.

And she said more while still lying on the console and stroking her cup.

“It was supposedly created in Top-Gear, so if only they still had some information on it.”

“They must be desperately searching through their history. But…”

“Babel is a really old artifact. …You know the result of the tests on its exterior, don’t you?”

“You said it has no concept of time, right?”

“Yes,” confirmed Yukio while slowly sitting up. “The inside is still functioning without any corrosion. It was clearly built by humans…or at least intelligent lifeforms the same size as us. And to gain the most space inside, the walls are used as the floor via gravitational control.”

“That’s what you said. And there’s enough space for an entire city inside, right?”

“We saw what must have been a park and residential area. Most of it was made from natural materials though, so it had rotted away.”

She smiled bitterly and lightly tapped the console.

“But everything made from inorganic materials was still up and running and there was something much like this. Its design was more refined and efficient, though. …If only we could take that equipment outside, I’m sure it could create concepts right away.”

“What, do you want to take the negative concepts out of Babel? Or are you going to lug all that equipment out on your own?”

“Couldn’t I get Asagi-kun’s help?”

Yukio shook her chair, placed her hands on the console, and gave a small smile.

“This must be tough for Top-Gear. Something they made is being studied by us…and it’s sure to be the key to our confrontation.”

“It’s best not to think about it too much. In the off chance the positive concepts are annihilated by the negative concepts, your concept creation is needed to create new power.”

“I wonder if I’m trying to play god by doing this?”

“Don’t say that when you pretty much already are, idiot.”

“You’re right.” Yukio smiled. “But I’m really interested in the idea of god. …For example, who created the concepts in the first place?”

She turned toward Chao as she spoke.

“Do you know why Top-Gear is so afraid of Low-Gear?”

“Isn’t it because of Babel and you? If we can create concepts, they lose the advantage the positive concepts give them.”

“But we have the positive concepts, too. Not all of the Gears have sided with UCAT yet, but we can always negotiate with them to borrow their Concept Cores.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“Yes.” Yukio looked up at the ceiling and shrugged. “Guessing at the construction of the concepts for the Gears we don’t have the Cores to is really hard. I have to look through all of the records on past battles with them. It would be a lot easier if we could just negotiate for the Cores.”

“That’s the opinion of someone working on this here. More importantly, are you going to answer your question for me?”

“Oh.”

Yukio lowered her shrugged shoulders.

Sayama’s mind recognized the motion as one Shinjou made.

…''Why Top-Gear is afraid of Low-Gear?

Yukio held out her right hand and raised three fingers.

“Your answer of Babel is part of it, but there are a total of three reasons they fear us. The first is Babel and the second is a fact they stumbled upon when searching for any records of Babel in their world.”

Her eyebrows bent a little.

“Their world lacks the Biblical mythology.”

“What?”

Sayama’s mental heart leaped when he heard Chao’s question.

…''Top-Gear lacks the Biblical mythology?

''Why is that?'' he wondered.

…''And what does it mean!?

As if to answer his questions, Yukio leaned forward a little and smiled.

“Old Sayama and the 10th people who have visited have yet to notice because they’re focused on the negotiations and not doing any sightseeing. But think about it. If Low-Gear’s various mythologies come from contact with the other Gears, the Biblical mythology would not just be the historical truth of Top-Gear; they would be what made Top-Gear itself. In other words…”

“Top-Gear should be the world of the Bible, but it’s just a normal world much like this one.”

Having said that much, Chao gasped and Yukio gave a troubled smile.

“If it was the world of Biblical mythology, they could just check their history to learn about Babel. If those myths were existing things there and not just something from the past, there would be existing objects to act as records and they would still be using similar things. …Assuming their culture or civilization was never lost, that technology would still exist there,” said Shinjou. “But Top-Gear wants Asagi-kun and me. …Yet to Top-Gear, Babel should just be a relic of the past. Why do they want to hear from people who went inside it? If Top-Gear had Babel’s knowledge as part of their living mythology, they would be able to create an even greater Babel…and they would have attacked us as soon as we entered Babel.”

“But that didn’t happen, so…”

“Yes.” Shinjou got up and held her cup in front of her waist with a smile. “I think Top-Gear lacks the Biblical mythology. For some reason, they seem to lack something we have. That is why they cannot find any ancient records for this. They have lost the clue they need to create Babel, despite having supposedly created it in the first place. And that is why they fear us. They fear that the Biblical mythology they lack will become the strength that defeats them. …After all, it is one of the things Low-Gear has that they do not.”

She moved her right hand by lowering the last of the three raised fingers.

“And there is one other thing Low-Gear has that Top-Gear does not.”

“Is it another mythology?”

“No.” Yukio shook her head and smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I still do not know what it is. …Most likely, no one knows. But I do know that it is something that Low-Gear and only Low-Gear possesses.”

“Hm? …There’s something like that in this negative Gear?”

“There is.” Yukio’s smiled changed. Her eyes bent and the ends of her eyebrows returned to normal. “I want to know what it is and that is what I’m working on. I believe it is directly linked to the meaning behind Low-Gear’s existence.”

Sayama heard confidence filling her voice.

“I believe it is a value given by god that allows this world to exist despite being negative.”

…''Value? Low-Gear has something like that?

As Sayama asked that, his mind’s vision grew dark.

He was returning to the present. He was waking from this brief and important dream.

And as he fell into that dozing darkness, he thought.

…''Top-Gear lacks the Biblical mythology.

But Yukio had said Low-Gear possessed something the other Gears did not.

He had another thought as well. Yukio had realized so very much, so…

…''Why did she go to Top-Gear?

He suddenly sensed something in that thought.

Shinjou Yukio had to have had a reason for going to Top-Gear.

He felt that her actions and deeds were a common thread connecting everything they had discovered about the past.

“Then were we right in thinking that pursuing Shinjou Yukio is the key to reaching Top-Gear’s destruction?”

Would they be able to find a truth that allowed them to oppose Top-Gear?

“Let us follow her path and her deeds.”

With those words, Sayama’s mind awoke.

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_13|Chapter 13]]
| Return to [[Owari_no_Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari_no_Chronicle:Volume12_Chapter_15|Chapter 15]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>